Poisonous Chinese Tea
by UnendingEmpire
Summary: When a resident of the Scarlet Devil Mansion brings a dark sorcerer from the real world into Gensokyo, minor chaos occurs.  To make matters worse, Meiling is fired and given a new job in the basement to take care of Flandre.  Remilia does not notice this.
1. Chapter 1: New Arrival

It was the dead of night and even the vampire sisters residing within the Scarlet Devil Mansion were sleeping at the short time in a day where all beings rest in Gensokyo. However, somebody was up to a little harmless mischief and intended to bring somebody with very special abilities across the border from the real world into Gensokyo. She had been using powerful magic to search for weeks, and finally found the correct person for the job.

As the schemer stepped across the border, she took a deep breath. She had never crossed this border before and arranging this was far from easy, especially when having to go all the way to Yukari Yakumo to ask for easy transportation. But, Yukari did leave the girl right where she specified, and approached the man she searched for. He had dark blonde hair and eyes as black as his soul. Going up to him, she asked "How would you like a chance to do something so different that nobody would ever believe you?"

The man quickly turned, holding in one arm a black tome with various runic symbols on it. They were symbols of curses, plagues, even necromancy. "Who are you, and why would you approach somebody without so much as a thought? You clearly have no idea who I am."

"Oh, but I do. That's why I'm making you this offer. I would like to bring you over to my world, Gensokyo, where the dreams of humans in this world come true."

"Is that so?" The man took careful consideration. "Even though you know me, I feel a proper introduction is in order. My name is Judas, and you would be?"

"I'd like to keep it a secret. Don't worry, you'll see me again soon enough if you do what's written here." The girl handed Judas a note, unfolding it herself as she did this. Inside were some instructions to trigger a little game she wanted to play to amuse herself a bit.

"So I'm looking for this mansion? Very well, I trust you've arranged easy transportation?"

"Yes, step this way please." The girl lead Judas through the gap Yukari left for the entry back into Gensokyo, which even left them just outside the Scarlet Devil Mansion. "Well, now that you're here, I really need to head back before anybody notices I'm gone." Quickly, she ran back into the Scarlet Devil Mansion. Through the entire trip, she had worn a heavy black cloak to keep her identity a secret from anybody who would try to discover it, and was certain that she succeeded and that it was time to begin one excellent game. However, there were two things she hadn't thought about. The first was that it was more than likely that nobody short of Aya would investigate this new arrival. The second was that Judas had plans of his own.

* * *

><p>Voile, the magic library. No sunlight ever got in, allowing the books to stay in excellent condition. Few went in there for anything other than the books, and Patchouli Knowledge chased out those who went in for any reason if they weren't invited.<p>

"Miss Patchouli," Koakuma said. "A strange man appeared in Gensokyo last night, should I bring him here?"

"No need. I could sense his presence when he first arrived, and his evil powers. No human should be allowed to own powers like his, and the last thing we need near this mansion is a person who can control the dead."

"What do you mean by that?"

"You seem to have forgotten that Lady Remilia is a vampire, and that means she's susceptible to necromancy. If he came near here he could tear her to pieces without so much as lifting a finger. Our mistresses are powerful, but there were no necromancers in Gensokyo before today."

"Oh my, I did forget about our Lady being a vampire. Things are always so quiet down here I sometimes forget that the rest of Gensokyo even exists. Should I warn China?"

"Please do. If he comes near here, we need her to get rid of him. And come to think of it, how did you learn he came to Gensokyo?"

"The same way as you, Miss Patchouli. When he came into this world I could feel his presence." Wanting to avert the disaster of anything bad happening to Lady Remilia, Koakuma quickly ran out, being sure to shut the door behind her as she left the library. But, when she got to the front door, it was already too late to stop his entry. Him, Remilia, Sakuya, and China were all there, so Koakuma just listened in on the conversation at hand as she hid behind a corner.

"China," Remilia said. "This man's name is Judas Nekross. Sakuya's been telling me about you sleeping on the job and lots of people sneaking in that we don't want around here, so he'll be replacing you."

China was shocked. "But, Lady Remilia, I've been guarding this place since you first arrived in Gensokyo. And for future reference, my name is not China, it's Hong Meiling."

"Well, if I did call you China it would be like calling myself by the name Europe, so I guess I'll keep it in mind. As for you being replaced, the only way you're getting your gatekeeper job back is if Judas turns out to actually be doing a worse job than you were by sleeping." Nobody seemed to notice how something seemed rather off with Remilia, specifically the blank look in her eyes.

"My Lady," Judas said, "I can guarantee that your gates are well-kept until the day I die."

"I'm glad to hear that. You can start immediately, go on now." With a flick of her wrist, Remilia gestured to the door that Judas promptly walked toward and exited, closing it behind him to keep out any unwanted sunlight. "As for you, Meiling. I think I do have one other job for you that has been needing some doing around here."

"It's not a bad job, is it?"

"Not at all. As you know, I need to keep Flandre in the basement because of her immense power. However, nobody's ever down there to watch her. Since you're the closest to her out of everybody, you can have that duty."

"So I'm pretty much…Flandre's babysitter?"

"I guess. Just think of it like a toned-down gatekeeper job. Instead of the gates to the mansion, just guard the basement and keep an eye on Flandre."

Meiling seemed thankful. The way she saw it, she could have had a much worse job. She could have even wound up as a maid, meaning Sakuya would have complete authority over her and she couldn't imagine that. All she had to do was hang out in the basement and make sure Flandre didn't get into any trouble, which seemed simple enough to her. "I'll go there now."

"See, that's the spirit! Go now, I'm sure you two will have a blast together."

Koakuma couldn't believe what she was hearing. How the hell did Judas get there so fast, and how did Meiling not only fail to stop him, but couldn't even detect his presence? Things were getting a bit confusing, but Patchouli would surely be able to get to the bottom of this if anybody could. She quickly headed back to the library, and as soon as she was in, practically yelled "We're too late!" The sound echoed off the walls of the dusty library, making her seem much louder than she was. Eventually, she found Patchouli among some books about death, and said again "We're too late, Miss Patchouli. Judas is already here, but he's not attacking anybody. Lady Remilia gave him the gatekeeper job and now Meiling is working in the basement watching over Flandre."

"Well, that's very bad. If Judas is the gatekeeper then he could raise an army of the dead and let them all in. However, I can't imagine Remilia replacing Meiling with a complete stranger. He must be controlling her."

"So what do we do?"

"To break a necromancer's spell, either the controlled deceased or the magician needs to die. Since making an attempt on Remilia's life is a disaster waiting to happen, we need to find some way to get Judas out of the picture." But she didn't quite know how to defeat a necromancer, since among all her seemingly infinite books necromancers were mentioned numerous times, but their weaknesses were not.

* * *

><p>In the basement of the Scarlet Devil Mansion, few that went in ever came out in one piece unless they lived there. One of the reasons Remilia chose to put Meiling down there was because of how powerful Meiling herself was, even if her power was a faint glimmer compared to the boiling flares of destruction that were the powers of Flandre Scarlet. Broken toys were scattered across the floor and many of the missing pieces were found in a massive pile in the furthest corner of the basement. Opposite that pile was a very exquisite bed that Flandre was sitting on, just passing time.<p>

But when Meiling barely nudged a toy with her foot, Flandre's attention immediately turned to the nearly inaudible sound. "A visitor? I haven't had a visitor in a while, so stay for a bit okay?"

"Actually," Meiling said, "I'll be down here for a very long time. Lady Remilia replaced me with some strange man and told me that my new job was to remain down here and make sure everything was okay. She said that it's because you and I are really close."

"You got replaced? You need to show that new guy who the real gatekeeper of the mansion is! You need to go up there and shed some blood sweat and tears, his blood your sweat his tears!"

Meiling laughed a bit, and said "I wish it was that easy. As good as that sounds, I don't think assaulting the new gatekeeper on his first day with my old job is a very good idea. But I'll be paying attention, and if anybody who doesn't live here gets in I'll know about it and be sure to tell Sakuya."

"Oh. Then maybe while you wait for somebody to come in we can play?"

"Sure we can. What kind of game did you have in mind, Flandre?"

"I don't know, I'm just bored and all my toys are broken. Sis won't get me any new ones anymore because she says I'm breaking them all. It's not my fault, the toys are just really fragile!"

Meiling looked around at the strewn toys, and noticed one that looked particularly tough to break. It looked like a teddy bear, but when somebody touched it they'd realize that it was only painted, and the real thing was made of steel. The bear was torn clean in half, though, revealing the metal inside. "So, a steel bear is fragile?"

"Yes!"

At the very least, Flandre was able to make Meiling laugh with how easily she could misunderstand things. "Alright. Since you can't think of any games to play, how about I throw a few ideas around?"

"Sure, what kind of games did you have in mind?"


	2. Chapter 2: Dark Intentions

A new day was starting at the Scarlet Devil Mansion, and the sisters residing there were sleeping now. Meiling was exhausted from keeping Flandre busy and entertained and she knew that until she got rid of Judas, it would be this way for a very long time. But she really didn't mind, when the door that led upstairs to the mansion itself opened. Down the stairs came Sakuya, who seemed as calm and happy as she ever did. "Meiling, how is the new job?"

"Exhausting, but it's fun so I have that going for me. Why?"

"Look, I understand you don't like Judas, and Miss Patchouli has the exact same ideas about him as you do, so maybe while Flandre's sleeping you should talk it over with her?"

If Patchouli thought something was up, something was up. "Good idea, Sakuya. I think I'll go now, could you bring down some tea?"

"Of course."

"Actually, forget that. I think I'll go down to the human village for the day while Flandre's asleep." With that, Meiling got up and headed up the stairs before Sakuya. Once she was outside and taking in the sunlight, she saw Judas guarding the gate, in her spot! Just the sight of it drove her skin as red as her hair with anger that a stranger could replace such a reliable guardian. Yet, off in the distance, she saw a figure. From where she stood, the other girl seemed to have short white hair and dressed somewhat similar to Meiling herself. However, the biggest feature worth noting was the ghost floating around the girl.

Youmu Konpaku had to deliver a message to Remilia from Lady Yuyuko. Once she got to the gate, she saw the guard. "I need to deliver a message, so please let me inside the mansion." She always was sort of straight to the point when she had something important to do.

"Oh," Judas asked. "But Lady Remilia has given me strict orders to keep all visitors out of the mansion, no matter the cost. I'm afraid I can't let you through, so go home before you get on my bad side."

"Did you threaten me?"

"As a matter of fact, I did, yes. Who are you, and what's so important that I should disobey the mistress of the mansion for you to deliver it?"

"I am Youmu Konpaku, gardener of Hakugyokurou. Lady Yuyuko Saigyouji has told me to warn Miss Scarlet about a threatening force in Gensokyo before something bad happened."

"Thank you for informing me, I'll be sure to tell her tonight, now leave or else."

"Don't threaten me! The things that can't be cut by my Rankouken, forged by youkai, are close to none!"

"As intimidating as you sound, I doubt somebody with even seven swords could outdo me in combat. On to a different topic, what on earth is that marshmallow floating around you?"

Youmu looked at the so-called marshmallow, losing her patience fast, and frankly said "It's my phantom half. I was born this way and I don't really know if anything can be done about it."

Suddenly, Judas was interested. "So, you mean to tell me that you're amongst the dearly departed?" An evil smile worked its way across his face, as he held one hand in front of him. "Then go home now or I'll kill you so you never get up again." Slowly, Judas began closing his hand into a fist. He wanted to kill her slowly, and hear her scream and cry and beg for mercy, only for him to give her a false glimmer of hope and then wipe her out of existence. As his fingers began curling up, Youmu's straight stature began to crumble.

"What are you doing?" She tried to act like she couldn't feel anything, but the pain he was inflicting on her was obvious. Before long, she was curled up on the ground, doing her best to not scream.

And Meiling saw all of this happen with her own two eyes. When she looked close enough, she could even see that Youmu was crying; Judas had truly broken the half-phantom gardener. Every second, his dark grip grew tighter, and eventually she couldn't hold herself back. Meiling jumped right over the gates, yelling "Stop, you'll kill her!" As soon as she landed, Meiling sprinted to Youmu and picked her up as she ran away as fast as she could.

Youmu's entire face was contorted in unimaginable pain that could only be inflicted by the darkest of magic, with her phantom half resting in her lap. Between breaths she suddenly found so difficult to make, she tried to speak. Eventually, she uttered the words "Thank…you."

"Don't speak," Meiling said, dashing past the misty lake faster than the wind itself. "You'll only hurt yourself. Go back to the Netherworld, warn everybody there and close whatever barriers you can to separate yourselves from Gensokyo. If Judas finds Hakugyokurou even I can't imagine the things he would be able to do." Before she saw this happen, she figured he may be able to earn her trust if he really applied himself, but now there was no doubting her original opinion. Judas was evil through and through, and he needed to be stopped. The worst part was, the only other person who could really fight him that believed her was Patchouli, and she probably wouldn't get up to do it either way.

* * *

><p>Eventually Meiling put a more than considerable distance between herself and the Scarlet Devil Mansion, and in a bizarre twist of events, wound up at the Hakurei Shrine. Meiling put Youmu down on the front porch and knocked lightly on the door. "Reimu," she said. "This is urgent, get out here."<p>

The shrine maiden Reimu Hakurei came out quickly, and said "What's wrong, China? And shouldn't you be guarding the gates at the mansion?" Then she saw Youmu still curled up in the aftereffect of the pain Judas inflicted on her. "Bring her in here, I'll see what I can do." Healing wasn't exactly Reimu's strong suit, but she knew of somebody who could probably fix her up without breaking a sweat. For now, though, she would try to do this on her own. "What the hell happened to her?"

"That's part of what brought me here. Last night, somebody brought a human with some unique powers across the border, and he stole my job. Remilia didn't look right when she told me this, so I guessed it had to do with necromancy, and a couple hours ago I was proven right when he nearly killed Youmu without even trying. It's unlike me, but I'm terrified to be honest. What if he goes into the basement and controls Flandre? Nowhere will be safe, Reimu. We need to kill Judas and find a way to break the spell Lady Remilia's under." Then the door opened and a very drunk oni walked through, carrying a distinct gourd that carried an endless supply of sake.

"Reimu, I didn't -hic - know you had company over," Suika drunkenly slurred. "I coulda got some food if you wanted, but -hic- what's China doing here instead of at that house? Is it the holidays already?" Suika stumbled over to Meiling, and gave her a strong pat on the back, cheerfully saying "Merry Christmas -hic- China. Here, have some sake."

"Thanks, but it's not Christmas and my name isn't China, it's Hong Meiling for the last time!" On a few occasions Suika had drunkenly wound up there and never seemed to remember Meiling's name. "I would love some sake though, I think I'll say something like I got kidnapped by a crazy oni and that's why I couldn't get back tonight." Once Suika handed Meiling the gourd, she took a mouthful of the sake inside and swallowed. She heard somewhere that some people get their best ideas when they're drunk, and Meiling was hoping that she was such a person, since she had every intention of getting absolutely and positively plastered tonight.

* * *

><p>After five or so hours of sake drinking, Meiling couldn't even stand straight any longer. "Alright, here's -hic- the plan," she said. "We're gonna kidnap Judas and throw him into the bottom of the lake. And then -hic- we have Patchy…um…I forgot." Meiling laughed a hearty laugh which Suika joined in, as she tried to remember the rest of her poorly thought-out plan. "We could have her zap the lake with -hic- a lightning bolt, then he'll turn to smoke!"<p>

"Yes!" Suika approved completely of the plan, which only made Reimu and Youmu even more skeptical. The former gatekeeper and the oni had become really close friends in their drunken stupors, though Meiling would probably never remember this.

"Meiling," Reimu said. "I don't think killing him just like that is a good idea."

"Aww, you called me Meiling. You didn't call me -hic- China. The miko loves me, everybody!" Meiling ran up to Reimu and gave her a big hug. "I -hic- love ya too, Reimu. Because you're smart and you know when some dumb girl is being bad, and -hic- you're…damn, I forgot the rest."

Then the shrine door opened, and Sakuya stepped in. "Excuse me," Sakuya said politely. "Have any of you seen Meiling?"

"I'm over here," Meiling drunkenly shouted. "And we're -hic- gonna kill Judas!"

"Getting drunk when you know you have important work to do? How unlike you." Sakuya looked as calm and collected as ever, despite the twitching of her eyebrow. Pausing time, she threw only one knife at Meiling, figuring that should be more than enough to get her point across to the drunken former gatekeeper.

But when time resumed and the knife darted at Meiling, she caught it mid-flight. "…Yeah. See, I'm realllllly smart. I caught your knife and I'll catch Judas too because he's a very -hic- bad man! He did a bad thing this morning…but I forget what he did."

"Are you insane," Youmu said, practically flying off the handle. "He nearly killed me! He's got dark powers that no living being should possess, power over the dead."

"Yeah," Meiling triumphantly said. "That was it, Sakuya! He almost killed little Youmu here because she wanted to bring a message over and he said 'No now I'm gonna kill ya' and if I hadn't shown up she'd be dead!" Meiling took one more chug of sake from Suika's gourd, then let out a massive drunken groan. Her body had taken enough for tonight, and she passed out on the table right there on the spot.

"Well," Sakuya said. "Youmu, I'll deliver the message for you. I should probably bring Meiling home, though. Suika, would you care to help me by carrying her, the most physically taxing thing I've ever done is some youkai hunting and I don't think I can quite carry a passed out Meiling all the way home."

Suika nodded and said "Sure, yeah. She's my bud now so I can -hic- help!"

* * *

><p>"Koakuma!" Patchouli had just figured out the perfect solution, but it would be far from easy. Of course, before she did that, she needed to know who brought Judas here in the first place. "I want you to go get everybody who lives here, even Flandre. Everybody except Judas. Bring them all here, I need to figure out who brought Judas here so that Sakuya and I can figure out how to punish them."<p>

"Right away, Miss Patchouli. What kind of punishment did you have in mind, may I ask?" Koakuma really wanted to know what would happen to the perpetrator once their identity was revealed, desperately.

"I'm considering completely emptying their mind, effectively forcing them to learn everything from scratch. I need to start making an anti-magic field in the meantime so that Lady Remilia will be herself when she arrives and not Judas's slave." She didn't dare assume anything, as it could have even been Remilia Scarlet herself who brought in Judas, but her greatest guess as it stood was a generic and forgettable maid.


	3. Chapter 3: The Interrogation Begins!

It was the dead of night again, and Meiling, despite a massive hangover, attended the meeting that was taking place in the library, otherwise she would look suspicious.

"Alright," Patchouli said. "I brought all of you here because somebody had to have brought Judas here, and we're going to find out who it was. Lady Remilia should be arriving any second now, and I've placed an anti-magic barrier to cover the entire library so that our Lady can be herself and not Judas's slave."

Just as Patchouli finished this statement, Remilia stepped in, and once she did, a distinct popping noise could be heard. The spell was broken for the time being, but she seemed rather clueless. "What happened, when did I get here? Patchy, are you behind this?"

"You were under a spell, Remilia. You fired Meiling, gave the position to a stranger named Judas, and assigned Meiling to work in the basement to watch Flandre."

"I remember that last part, though I didn't know why I did it. I couldn't possibly be controlled by somebody, I'm just too powerful." Remilia looked around for some support that she couldn't have been controlled, but not even Sakuya was agreeing with her that she wasn't under the control of somebody else. "Alright, fill me in, I want to know everything."

"Of course, and even Flandre is here since everybody's a suspect." Patchouli cleared her throat, and started recounting everything that had happened so far. "The night before last, somebody left Gensokyo to bring Judas into this world and apparently told him about Lady Remilia. At about five in the afternoon yesterday, I sent Koakuma to warn Remilia about this presence, but he had already gotten in and Meiling claims to have never noticed his existence until they were in the same room. Remilia fired Meiling from her gatekeeper job and gave this job to Judas, sending Meiling into the basement to be a caretaker for Flandre. Today, Meiling says she saw Judas nearly kill Youmu Konpaku, the half-phantom gardener of Hakugyokurou, and Sakuya also saw Youmu today and received the same story from the supposed victim herself. Currently, Youmu is staying in the Hakurei Shrine while she recovers from the internal damage Judas caused. And tonight I brought you all here so we can discover who brought Judas here. First off, who has an alibi? I, for one, was here all night and Meiling can confirm that I never left the mansion."

"It would defeat the purpose of my job to bring somebody here," Meiling quickly added. "Plus, Patchouli's story is true."

"Like always, I was cleaning up everything the fairy maids missed," Sakuya firmly stated.

Remilia looked around, and asked "What would I do with a necromancer? I'm a vampire so it's common logic to be a bad idea."

"I was in the basement," Flandre said.

"And I," Koakuma said, "I never even left Gensokyo."

"But you did leave the mansion," Patchouli asked.

"Yeah, I was gathering some flowers to make tea with, Sakuya told me to a few days ago and I never got to it."

"That is true," Sakuya said. "But where are the flowers?"

Koakuma held up a bag, and said "Sorry that I forgot to bring them first thing when I got back."

Sakuya looked in the bag, and smiled that she remembered. "Thank you. Patchouli, do you know any magic that can force people to tell the truth?"

"If I did," Patchouli said plainly, "I would have already figured out who did this. And for future reference, please don't use _my_ familiar without my permission. All of these alibis are good ones, but one of us has to be lying otherwise he wouldn't be here. So, to whoever the perpetrator is, I'll give you an offer. Show yourself now and we _won't_ punish you."

"I did it," Remilia said.

"Really?"

"No. Not really, not at all, no." Remilia smiled ear-to-ear and said "I just wanted to see how you would react if I said I did do it, and it was really funny!"

"Please stop joking around, you and Flandre might be in real danger if this guy stays for much longer." Patchouli looked at the only set of doors that led out of Voile, and said "Koakuma, close and lock the doors. Nobody's leaving Voile until we learn who brought Judas here." As her familiar headed over to do as Patchouli asked, she said "If anybody wants to leave they'll have to confess. Plus, Remilia and Flandre are the only two here who can survive off blood alone so eventually the rest of us will dehydrate or die of starvation unless the culprit reveals herself." An excellent plan forged by an excellent magician. She knew that fights would probably break out, and that some really harsh words would be spoken during the course of this, but the person responsible had to be punished.

* * *

><p>Outside, Judas stared into the night. He was looking for ghosts or any form of the dead. If he had gotten directions to Hakugyokurou while that Youmu girl was around, he would probably have an unstoppable army by sunrise, but that sadly wasn't the case. A world completely up for the taking by his own twisted hands sounded appealing to him, as Judas carefully watched for any movement at all.<p>

Then he heard a pair of small wings fluttering toward the gate. In the distance, he saw a small fairy with bright blue hair and a dress and wings to match. Her wings looked like icicles and her intended target seemed to be the mansion itself. Once she was within range of his voice, he strongly said "Stop there or never be the same again." In his short time here, Judas had gathered plenty of general knowledge, and knew that fairies were truly weak creatures. When he took over Gensokyo, the first thing he would do had to be a genocide against the little things.

"Never be the same, what's that supposed to mean? Who are you?"

"My name is Judas, but more important is the name of this pest trying to get into the mansion. I'm afraid that all visitors are being denied access, so please return after eternity has ended."

"My name is Cirno, and I'm not going to just leave like that!"

"You wanna make something of it, fairy?" Judas pulled a card from his pocket, and held it between his fingers. "I doubt you'll last long against me, Cirno. If you insist, though, I'll gladly play for a few seconds."

"It's on!" Cirno had a new technique that she wanted to try, one that even the Hakurei shrine maiden couldn't dodge. It was like her Perfect Freeze, only with much more bullets, and they all closed in on the enemy rather than going in random directions. She was certainly making progress.

As the first wave of bullets shot out, Judas dodged without effort. In his spare time, he had been making spell cards he could use in danmaku fights, and now seemed the perfect time to test one. He waited until the frozen bullets started closing in on him to activate it. "Hellfire Sign: Infernal Agony." In every direction, searing flames with a black center burst out, actually melting Cirno's bullets. "When I fight," he said as Cirno struggled to dodge the random barrage of fire, "I fight a fight to the death instead of a silly danmaku game. By challenging me, you've signed your death certificate." Soon after, one bullet did connect, and instead of the usual reaction people had to danmaku, she burst into flame.

"What did you do to me!" Cirno flew away as fast as she could, trying to get the fire off; fire which was already tearing through her clothes and burning her. Cirno frantically dove into the lake, but the fires wouldn't extinguish.

Judas laughed as the fairy flew off, he knew that she would be dead soon enough, and then she would be under his control. Furthermore, news of her death would bring other people here who would challenge him and in turn become the next to die and thus become his puppet.

Perhaps fairies weren't completely useless after all. They made for excellent target practice.

* * *

><p>Suddenly, Cirno had a very uncharacteristic stroke of almost-genius. Bursting out of the lake, she flew deep into the forest and began encasing herself in ice. It was very difficult, and the fire made things a lot tougher, but eventually she got it. Cirno had turned into an ice statue, but knew that eventually the ice around her would melt and she would walk away from that fight alive. A large portion of her clothes were burned, and in some spots her body was burnt all the way down to the bone, but it was nothing plenty of time couldn't heal.<p>

"Now I just wait," she mentally told herself. "Once this ice melts I can go turn that Judas guy into ice!" Sadly, she forgot one important factor. Winter was about to start the next day, so unless she was freed before tomorrow, she would probably be stuck that way for a long time.

* * *

><p>Patchouli and Sakuya had talked about how to solve who the culprit was, and eventually came to one conclusion they didn't like at all: they would have to torture the truth out. They would save the Scarlet sisters for last, and decided to start with Flandre since out of everybody, she was the strongest.<p>

Since magic couldn't be used due to the anti-magic field, administering the torture was Sakuya's job, and in a sick manner she actually looked forward to it. The perfect maid of the Scarlet Devil Mansion approached Flandre, and decided to start just by asking the question one more time. "Miss Flandre, was it you who brought Judas here?"

"Who's Judas?" She had spaced out during most of the meeting, but was fully and completely aware of her surroundings once the sound of a knife going through flesh was accompanied by a stabbing pain in Flandre's leg. "Ow!"

"Please forgive me, Miss Flandre, but I need to continue stabbing you until you have all thirteen knives in you. This was the method Patchouli and I agreed to, and since you're the most powerful we chose to start with you and go down from there, skipping Lady Remilia and making her go last."

"Wait," Remilia angrily asked. "You mean not only do I have no say in this, but you're going to start by stabbing my little sister? Can't we start with Meiling?"

"Hey," Meiling exclaimed. "Don't start with me! I got stabbed more times working than all of you combined in your entire lives!"

"True," Sakuya said. "And Lady Remilia, unless you would like to go first we do have to start with Miss Flandre."

"Oh," Remilia said. "…In that case, help yourself."

"Onee-sama!" Flandre couldn't believe what she was hearing. She couldn't believe her arm either when it felt not one but two knives going through the limb. "Stop stabbing me!"

"Sorry," Sakuya said. "But this is the only way we can find the culprit. Since he was brought here at night, everybody is a suspect, including you and Lady Remilia."

"I didn't bring him here!"

"Please, Sakuya," Meiling said. "Can't we just take her word for it?" She couldn't stand seeing Flandre stabbed like that, especially by Sakuya who was not only a maid, but also the last line of defense for the two vampires living here.

"Sadly," Sakuya replied, "I'm afraid we can't. Miss Flandre, I'll give you two options. We can do this fast and use all the knives at once, or use them one at a time. Once it's confirmed you're not the culprit, you can go back into the basement if you want."

"The fast way," Flandre bravely said.

"As you wish. You may want to close your eyes for this." For the next split second, all anybody could hear was the sound of ten knives going through the flesh of Flandre Scarlet, then a few seconds of silence. What followed that silence was a deafening scream that even knocked quite a few of Patchouli's books off the shelves. Sakuya quickly pulled out the knives, only to trigger another such scream, knocking off most of Patchouli's remaining books. "You did well. You can go rest now if you want."

"Okay," Flandre sobbed. "Good night, everybody." Flandre limped out of the room, making sure to close the door behind her, crying the whole way. When she got back to the basement, she was going to suck the blood from her wounds until it didn't hurt anymore.

Meiling was facing away, she had been since Flandre said she wanted to do this quickly. "I can't believe you just did that." She was doing her best to not cry herself. Then she suddenly smiled, and said "Well, Sakuya, looks like you're next by the system you're using."


	4. Chapter 4: Breaking News!

**I decided to start doing these author notes just so I could throw out a few fun facts from time to time, as well as my own insight on the story thus far. Remember last chapter when Flandre got stabbed? To be honest, I nearly cried writing that, Flan's just too adorable to be stabbed in rapid succession like she was just now. Anyway, see that first ruler? Once you pass that, play Nightcrawler by Judas Priest, it'll make Judas seem twice as badass!**

* * *

><p>Suddenly, Sakuya looked nervous. "What? O-Oh, yes. Well, I'm sure Meiling wants to do this, so…" Sakuya held out the knives to Meiling, and said "Make every knife count."<p>

"Oh, believe me," Meiling evilly chuckled. "I will." As hard as she could, Meiling thrust the first knife through Sakuya's leg. Ever one to appear unaffected by anything, Sakuya didn't even wobble at the vicious strike. "I'm gonna enjoy this. I never thought I would get to be the one who used the knives on _you_, Sakuya." Meiling then used two of the knives at once, one in each of Sakuya's arms. "You're sure you didn't do it?"

"I'm certain of it. I would never do anything that even has the potential to harm Lady Remilia." Sakuya's will was strong, but she knew she wasn't the one to blame here.

* * *

><p>"Go away, bird. The young Lady doesn't want any visitors so unless you want my next meal to be roasted tengu, I recommend you leave." Judas had little patience to start with, and this tengu trying to interview him was wearing what little patience he had very thin. "That's all I have to say."<p>

"You mad?"

"Do I look mad? In some sense of the word, to many people, I'm considered very mad indeed, but it's not my fault if the dead are under my control."

Aya Shameimaru quickly wrote that down, and said "It's a shame you can't find your way to the netherworld, that would make great news." News almost great enough to make her want to give him directions. Almost.

"I'm sure it would be the greatest-selling newspaper in the history of both Gensokyo and the human world, as well as any other world. Perhaps you should lead me there to be able to write such great news, girl." This girl seemed obsessed with getting a good news story, so Judas intended to use that to his advantage. He would destroy any obstacle in his path and kill anybody who tried to defy him and turn them into his own army to take over Gensokyo with. His plan was flawless. "I'll give you time to release that paper to warn people, so don't worry. I'm sure anybody who reads this Bunbunmaru Newspaper of yours will take action to protect themselves, how can they not with such an amazing news story hitting the papers?" Judas had seemingly gone in an instant from a killer to a lady-killer, talking smoother than any other person in Gensokyo possibly could.

Aya was biting her nails in temptation to make the story possible. "If I give out a false story it'd be terrible for the papers, and this sounds like such a great story to write. Oh, I can't decide!" She knew it would be the wrong thing to do, and she _knew_ that if it was discovered that she was the one that led him to the netherworld, she would never be able to live it down even if she became older than Yukari, but on the other hand it was such great news! "I'm sure anybody I ask would say no to guiding you there, but I can't decide!"

"Then let me pick for you if it's so troubling. Just repeat after me." Clearing his throat, Judas figured he may have to use his black magic to destroy Aya' s conscience if this went on too long. "'How about I guide you to the netherworld, Judas?'"

Aya seemed hypnotized, even if she truly wasn't. "How about I guide you to the netherworld, Judas?"

"See, was that hard? Lead on, tengu, and we'll create the best damn news story to ever hit Gensokyo!" Judas smiled as Aya flew off, now that his master plan was finally in real motion. Perhaps he would meet that Youmu girl again, only this time there was no Meiling to save her. _That China girl really is a pesky one. When I take over this world, she's the first one to go, even before the fairies. Actually, maybe I should let her live. I'm always making new spells and I need a living subject to test them on, especially curses of pain._ Once Gensokyo was his, he intended to take surrounding worlds, including this Makai he'd heard mentioned from time to time. All he knew was that it was a different world from Gensokyo and that the creator of that world was a goddess who could create anything.

As Judas followed, Aya asked "So do you want me to include your name in the paper?"

"Sure. Why not? I love attention so it works nicely if you do, you could even tell them where I live if you want. The Scarlet Devil Mansion is my place of residence under the good graces of Lady Remilia Scarlet, I believe you've heard of _her_." His next side-objective, aside from taking over Gensokyo and re-shaping it to his likings, was learning the history of Gensokyo so that he better knew his own kingdom. A full moon hung ominously over the sky, its color a blood red. In Judas's opinion, he couldn't have asked for a better sign to begin his conquest.

* * *

><p>Youmu stood at the now-sealed gates of the netherworld, ordered by Yuyuko to keep a very close eye out for anybody at all. Nobody was being allowed entry into the netherworld, and nobody who was already there was being allowed to leave. She still felt haunted by the magic inflicted on her yesterday, and she hoped that she would never see that man again. As unlike her as it was, she was terrified of the guy because of his powers. Would he kill her if they met again?<p>

Much to her eyes' disbelief, she was about to find out. In the distance, she believed she saw Judas again, which had her ready to either kill or run away. He was fast approaching, so she didn't have long to think it over. _If I fight, I'll probably get killed. But if I run, Yuyuko would probably never forgive me. Do I die for a noble cause or do I try to preserve my own life, what's more important to me?_ Youmu was very pressured to choose between life and honor, and the tension of her short time limit was making it impossible for her to choose. Unable to decide, she ran. Youmu moved into the gates as fast as she could, and closed and sealed them the instant she got through, doing everything she could to make sure Judas couldn't get through those gates.

Judas, of course, was perfectly aware of Youmu when she ran. "It would seem I've been spotted. Thank you, Aya, I'll take it from here as I can see the gates already." With a nod, Judas moved on alone. This was a very exciting thing to him, to be able to take over the very realm of death.

Now if only he could get more power beyond his own. He was very confident, but he knew that even he had limits, and he wanted to remove those limits.

* * *

><p>The interrogations for Sakuya, Patchouli and Meiling had finished, and Meiling had went down to the basement where Flandre was. Sakuya, on the other hand, chose to stay, and Patchouli naturally chose to stay in Voile. Since Sakuya was the most proficient with knives, she had to especially stay to make sure the interrogations went well. Now it was Koakuma's turn, as a blood-coated maid looked at the familiar of an equally bloodstained magician. "Koakuma, I'll ask you one time before we start the painful stuff since I'm getting tired of all this bloodshed. Were you the one who brought Judas into Gensokyo?<p>

"I never brought him here." Koakuma smiled a victorious smile, but that smile quickly turned into a scream when Sakuya stabbed her in the leg. "What was that!"

"I'll ask again, was it you Koakuma?"

"No!" Koakuma sounded like a stubborn child with the way she answered the question.

"If you say so. I have twelve more knives left, if it really isn't you then I'm sure you can handle the pain of thirteen knives penetrating your flesh." Sakuya was going to really enjoy this, but Koakuma looked terrified. This time, Sakuya's target was an arm. "If you were the culprit, you can confess it at any time."

"I'm telling you, it wasn't me!"

Sakuya was actually having fun stabbing Koakuma, but her voice was really getting annoying. "I think we should just skip a few." Faster than a person could blink, Sakuya stabbed Koakuma with four more knives. She chose random locations, but now Koakuma had a knife in each limb and one on each of the wings on her head. "Next one's going in your eye."

"Please, not the eyes!" As Sakuya's hand went up to stab Koakuma in the eye, she burst out yelling "Yes it was me! I brought Judas to Gensokyo the other night and I even left him right behind the mansion! I didn't think that Meiling would get fired and I only meant to do it as a game, I had no idea it would go this far! Just…put the knife down, o-okay?"

"Now that we know it was you…Miss Patchouli, what do you think would be a suitable punishment for all this?"

"Let me think, it's hard with these stab wounds and the revelation that my own familiar would go behind our backs like this, and even lie to us like this. I think…I think we should send her back to Makai."

Koakuma didn't seem happy, actually more than a bit panicked. "N-No, please. You have no idea what they'd do to me there, why do you think I left in the first place? I'm a succubus, why would I hide in a library and do absolutely nothing sexual at all, huh? It was to hide from the people back at Makai, they tried to kill me!"

"Then you'll send Judas back to where he came from."

"Yes, ma'am!" Koakuma sprinted off as fast as she could, eager to fix this mess that she made. But once she got to the front gates, the sight she saw threw her into a panic. Judas wasn't there any longer, which to her meant only one thing.

He had found the netherworld. Koakuma just as quickly ran back to Voile, and once she was in, yelled to everybody "Judas isn't here!" Now she was certain she'd get sent back to Makai.

At once, everybody stood up. "There's only a few places he could have gone, but I have a very bad hunch," Patchouli said. "Remilia, you stay in Voile so that Judas's magic doesn't overcome you again, and _don't_ tamper with the anti-magic field. Sakuya, get Meiling. The four of us are going to Hakugyokurou."

* * *

><p><strong>Damn you, Aya! Ladies and gents, I'm already doing Chapter 5 and I'll say this: WARNING, SPOILERS BELOW! DO NOT READ THE UNDERLINED TEXT UNLESS YOU WANT SPOILERS REVEALED!<strong>

Either in Chapter 5 or 6, SOMEBODY will die. If it was a character you liked, blame Judas not me! As it stands, the victim will probably be a vampire.


	5. Chapter 5: Crisis in Hakugyokurou!

When Sakuya told Meiling about their new objective, she actually seemed relived. "Good. I wanted to punch that guy right across his smug smile since he got here, now we get to kill him." She'd waited three days to do this, and while she was uncertain about leaving the mistresses of the mansion alone, attacking Judas was more than worth her worry.

* * *

><p>In Voile, Patchouli had a sudden change of plan. "Koakuma, you stay here. Lock all the doors and windows, and if anybody gets in, tell us about it." She knew it was probably a bad idea to leave the two vampires alone with a necromancer on the loose, so she needed somebody to stay and watch them. Since Koakuma was the weakest among them all, she was the best choice so that their strongest capable three were fighting Judas.<p>

By the time Koakuma nodded in acceptance of her orders, Patchouli was already gone, leaving just her and Remilia alone in the library. "So, Lady Remilia, do you think they can do it?"

"They won't win," Remilia said. "I can tell. At the moment, Judas is too powerful, they need to separate him from his powers somehow. Or at least learn his weakness."

"His weakness…" That, plus one of the books on the floor, gave her an idea. The book in question was all about black magic and the people who used it, and as Koakuma rapidly read the part about necromancers, she was searching her hardest for any mention of a weakness. "Come on, come on, where's his weakness? Damn! What good is it to tell us about a necromancer if the book doesn't know his weakness?"

"It's like Patchy says," Remilia cleverly quipped. "The undead are weak against fire. Judas himself uses more than just necromancy to my understanding though, so he may have some kind of magic that would make fire nearly useless like demonology. I could be wrong, but either way I think holy items would work…or silver."

"Sakuya's knives are silver, aren't they?"

"Well she was a vampire hunter before she became a maid, so naturally they would be." Remilia was fairly certain that the trio would find that out themselves on the way, so she didn't bother to send Koakuma to find them. Instead, she asked "So do you have any ideas on how to pass the time?"

* * *

><p>"One more should do it," Judas said to himself. He was in the process of destroying the gates to the netherworld, and was currently doing a more-than-decent job. Pulling back his right hand, he began to charge demonic energies into it. Starting at his fingers, than working down toward the palm of his hand, a green fire came into being; a combination of demonic magic and that of curses. The longer he charged this magic, the stronger it became and the more of his body it engulfed. Just waiting a few seconds made it exponentially more powerful, making it proof that combining multiple forms of black magic was a truly deadly thing.<p>

Thrusting his arm forward, all the power channeled itself with his movement, and the fire blasted out the palm of his hand, aimed straight at the gate to the netherworld, behind which countless souls of the departed waited for him. As the fire connected and a hole was shot in the gate, a evil grin of victory spread across his face. Before anything else, he had to do one thing to make himself truly unstoppable. The amount of souls behind that gate was certainly more than enough to perform the ultimate spell that all necromancers aspired to. He intended to ascend into lichdom. Of course, he needed something to store his soul in to prevent himself from being destroyed in the process. It would have to be small, and tough to notice. Judas quickly began searching himself for any such thing. _Surely among my things, I can see something that…that's it! _It would mean placing a curse on himself for a short time, but it was more than worth the immortality.

Judas began charging a curse of fragility that would make it easier to remove his body parts, and quickly grabbed a branch from a nearby tree. "When I was a kid," Judas mockingly mused to himself, "Father always _did_ say I'd end up losing an eye if I played with tree branches." Once the curse was ready, he inflicted it on himself, and quickly thrust the branch through his right eye. It actually didn't hurt as much as he would have imagined, but the process of pulling it out _was_ extremely painful. Still, Judas was tough and didn't even make a sound as his eye came out. _Being a cyclops was never what I saw coming, but if it'll make me immortal than so be it. _Judas stepped into the netherworld, and opened up his book to the page on the ritual to become a lich. "Time to get down to business." Judas began to gather the many souls needed to cast the spell while he read the rest of the instructions.

* * *

><p>As the trio began flying toward their destination, Sakuya said "Just follow me, I've been here on several occasions."<p>

"You've got it," Meiling said. Her youkai instinct was kicking in, telling her that something very bad was happening. She partially didn't want to go, but her desire to get rid of Judas was much bigger than her negative gut feeling that she should leave. She figured that if she threw all her power into one punch, it would be more than enough to destroy just about anything. However, the trick would be pouring all that power out at once.

* * *

><p>At Hakugyokurou, Youmu and Yuyuko looked down at what was happening. "Lady Yuyuko," Youmu desperately said. "I'm so sorry, I should have just tried to hold him off for a bit longer so you would notice something was going bad and showed up to save the day."<p>

"Don't worry about it," Yuyuko cheerfully said. "This crisis isn't going to last much longer. Judas may be smart, but he forgot where he is while he's becoming a lich."

"What does that mean?"

"You see Youmu, liches as I'm sure you know are a form of the dead. Since he's doing this in the netherworld where the dead reside, a lot of souls will instantly be recycled, sort of like that flower blooming incident a few years ago but with a shorter time span. This will catch the attention of that Sanzu River guide and if she does her job she'll follow the trail and bring Judas across the river where the Yama will sentence him to an eternity in hell. And then we go out to eat!"

"And what if the guide _doesn't_ follow the trail?"

"…Oh my, I never thought about that." Yuyuko smiled under one of her fans, and shrugged. Luckily for her, a very special friend was visiting Hakugyokurou at the time that the gates were sealed shut. Yuyuko also knew that Judas was the new gatekeeper at the Scarlet Devil Mansion, and the party of three who were arriving soon, plus the tengu they would find on the way.

A youkai carrying a white parasol approached Yuyuko with a grin on her face, and asked "Should we go down there too? He _is_ a necromancer, and since you're a ghost it could end more than a bit troublesome."

"They'll be fine without us, Yukari." Yuyuko watched the spell for Judas's ascension to lichdom begin, actually very eager to see what would happen. "Youmu, you stay up here, too. You're still weak from your last encounter and I can't risk you dying."

"As you wish," Youmu said. "So, do we know who's fighting Judas?"

Yukari cleared her throat, and said "The gatekeeper, head maid, and librarian from the Scarlet Devil Mansion, plus that news reporter tengu. I also sent a letter to Reimu, but I don't know if my choice in delivery is really going to work…"

"How did you send it?"

* * *

><p>Indeed, Yukari's letter wasn't going to be delivered as long as the oni carrying it had completely forgotten about it. "I -hic- miss Meiling," Suika said before taking down another mouthful of warm delicious sake. "Hey, miko, did you see her?"<p>

"I can't say I have," Sanae, the Moriya shrine maiden honestly said. "Also, I have a question."

"Okay, hit me."

Before Sanae could ask her question, all either of them could hear was a childish voice yelling "POW!" They also heard the sound of Suika getting hit hard by Suwako Moriya to match that voice very nicely. With a beaming smile across her face and a soul-piercing glare from her hat, the goddess said "You practically asked for it, Suika."

"Lady Suwako, did you just…"

"Yeah Sanae, I did. Don't worry, she's still conscious, see?" Suwako shook Suika's arm a bit, and stopped for a second. Then she shook harder. "Hey, you awake down there?" Then Suwako shook Suika's entire body very roughly. "Um…I think she's unconscious, Sanae. Quick, find her wallet!"

"What's wrong with you! This isn't the Hakurei Shrine, Lady Suwako!"

"You know what, you're right. We'll have Reimu do it instead." Suwako began dragging Suika across the shrine floor, straining her childish body quite a bit. "Help me get her through the door, Sanae." Then she heard the sound of paper rustling. Curious as to what it was, she reached into Suika's blouse and pulled out an envelope addressed to Reimu. Now even more curious, she opened it and read the letter out loud.

"Dear Reimu," she started. "I hope this letter gets to you in time. A few days ago, somebody brought a necromancer into Gensokyo and it's had adverse effects on the residents of the Scarlet Devil Mansion. If you're reading this, it's gone from bad to worse and he's now in the netherworld gathering souls to become a lich. Please come to the netherworld and help us resolve this issue, since your powers as a miko are extremely important to helping defeat this maniac bent on taking over all of Gensokyo. With love, Yukari Yakumo."

"That's horrible!"

"P.S. If you find Chen, please bring her to me. We sent her out to run some errands the other day and she got lost, Ran's become useless with worry since." Suwako nodded, and pointed straight at Sanae. "You know what you must do," she said with a false tone of seriousness. "Go to the netherworld and defeat this madman! Fly, my little miko, fly away!"

"Lady Suwako, this is serious! You tell Reimu, I'll go help however I can."

"That's our little miracle worker!"

* * *

><p>As the Scarlet Devil Mansion trio got to the gates, they saw Judas behind the gates, facing away from them. "I've been expecting you," he said. "Ladies, you are now gazing upon the newest immortal being, Judas Nekross, newly formed lich!" His left eye was completely white aside from the pupil, and his hair was covering where his right would be. "I've bound myself to the living world with the most powerful of necromancy, I am now immortal!"<p>

"Actually," Yuyuko yelled from atop the stairs. "That's not entirely true. See, you cast the spell while you were in the netherworld."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"It means you've bound yourself to _this_ world, not Gensokyo. If you die, you'll end up here like anybody else."

"Do you even know what you're saying? The point is not that I'll come back here after death, but instead that as long as an item of my personal choice remains intact, I will always come back from the dead upon said death, and that item is on me at all times." Judas approached the trio, and began explaining further. "When a human becomes a lich, the ritual requires one thousand dead souls to be gathered. Once lichdom is attained, those souls fall under the lich's control indefinitely. Normally, such souls go to the world of the dead, but since they were used here instead, they were sent to Gensokyo. There are now one thousand dead souls under my control, running rampant in Gensokyo doing my bidding. Terrorizing humans, devouring youkai, surrounding that mansion that you call home which will become my castle. Nothing can stop me, much less in the world of the dead, a world that can truly be called mine!"

Sakuya filled her hands with knives, and asked "Is that so?"

Patchouli opened her spell book, and said "Then we just have to stall you until somebody comes with a method of finishing you off for good."

Meiling entered a martial arts stance, and bravely said "I've been waiting to do this ever since I first saw your ugly mug, Judas. I'll show you what happens to those who invade the Scarlet Devil Mansion while I, Hong Meiling, the _true_ gatekeeper, am on the clock!"

* * *

><p><strong>Something you don't know, before Suika was knocked out, Sanae was going to ask her how she wound up at the Moriya Shrine in the first place. Suika wouldn't have known anyway, but at least she knew she was forgetting something.<strong>


	6. Chapter 6: The Lord of the Mansion

**Sorry for the delay, my flash drive went missing and since my desktop has my stories but not the internets, I had to wait until I found it. Also, happy Memorial Day everbody.**

* * *

><p>Judas nodded calmly, and said "Right. Let me show you what I think of your damned clock, China." Judas began charging the same green fire he used to enter the netherworld to begin with, only this time it charged much faster. "When a necromancer attains lichdom, his power increases tenfold. In short, you can't win no matter what you-" Judas was then interrupted by a knife penetrating his spine. "Argh, damn you!" With an arm still engulfed in hellish flames, Judas turned to backhand Sakuya, pouring all the power of that spell into his attack. He then proceeded to remove the knife from his spine, saying "Damn toy of hers actually hurt."<p>

Meiling quickly ran to Sakuya, who was the main component of a maid-sized crater in the wall. "Sakuya, are you okay?"  
>"Of course I'm okay. Did you forget what kind of maid you're talking to, Meiling?"<p>

"Excuse me," Judas shouted over to the two, "I believe the maid and I were having an honorable duel. China, step away from the maid or every non-living being in the netherworld will suffer pain even I can't imagine." The lich began to make his way over to Sakuya, intending to be the one who delivered the killing blow. He kept the knife that had just stabbed him, which dripped blood tainted by the darkest of magic. When he reached the two, Meiling was shoved aside by the head maid, who leapt up ready to deliver an onslaught of the knives.

And deliver she did. Even though it was only a few knives, her powers over time made it seem like at least a thousand knives rained down on Judas, who had no time to dodge this onslaught. "And that settles it," Sakuya said. She knew Meiling wanted to be the one to kill him, but Sakuya was best fit for the job by a long shot. Her time powers and talent with the silver knives she carried made her more than a match for Judas.

But a lich was something else entirely. Despite the countless knife wounds in his body, he still got back up. "I thought I already told you, I'm immortal you fools! Those knives are silver, aren't they? A very nice tool for disposing of the undead, but for one who lingers between life and death at all times such as myself, and who gets back up after crossing that border, they'll only help you in the short run. And I'm certain Miss Patchouli Knowledge over there is very much aware that the undead are weak against fire, but again it will do you no good." Before he could continue boasting about how much power he possessed, he was hit hard by Hong Meiling's astounding strength.

"Quit running your mouth," Meiling said. She had enough of Judas and was ready to end this. Sprinting toward him, she demonstrated the power of the true gatekeeper, taking some words Flandre told her into consideration. "You need to show that new guy who the real gatekeeper of the mansion is," she repeated to herself as she delivered a series of punches and kicks, all powerful enough to shatter bones. "You need to go up there and shed some blood sweat and tears, his blood, your sweat…his tears!" Meiling punctuated that final statement with one final punch behind which she threw 100% of her power, aimed at the center of Judas's head. The punch could even be heard in Gensokyo, sounding more like a cannon was fired than somebody getting punched. She had punched Judas hard enough that his head came clean off. Then a smile worked across Meiling's face. "We did it," she said to Sakuya and Patchouli.

"You don't think you're getting off that easily, do you?" Behind Meiling, a swirling manifestation of black magic was lifting the removed head off the ground as it constructed itself into the rest of his body, the old body crumbling to dust. "What part of 'Whenever I die, I'll just come back' did you not understand? Even if all three of you combined your efforts, you still won't be able to kill me so long as the anchor binding me to this world still exists." It was far too clever of him, taking advantage of the fact that he was dead to make his anchor impossible to detect. "However, my business isn't in the netherworld, so if you'll excuse me I have a world to conquer." His answer was yet another decapitating punch from Meiling, only to be met with the exact same results. "Bitch, please. I'll most certainly outlive you so unless you want that event to occur sooner than your lifespan permits step aside." Judas moved one of his arms behind him, the hand pointing at Youmu Konpaku. "Or the girl gets it. Her and the ghost up there, but not before using their combined power to get rid of that blonde next to them. Is fighting me really worth three innocent lives?"

Meiling was heavily pressured on this one. On one hand, she could keep killing Judas as long as she lived, but it would cost the lives of Youmu, Yuyuko, and Yukari. On the other hand, she let him go so that they all lived. She had to think heavily, and one could even hear the ghostly breeze that blew across the netherworld in the deafening silence that had all the Scarlet Devil Mansion residents in deep thought. Finally, Meiling raised her hands and said "Fine. Go on to Gensokyo, do what you will there. Just don't think for a second that you'll get away with it."

* * *

><p>Outside the gates, Aya was watching everything, rapidly writing it down. "Breaking news," she fanatically said to herself. "Breaking news that breaks breaking news of already broken news, news like this only comes once in…ever!" She needed every small detail, although she wondered how she was going to summarize all of this to fit it in a single issue of the Bunbunmaru and how she would keep a tab on what was happening.<p>

"Aya," said a shrine maiden dressed in white and blue. "What are you doing here?"

"Sanae, this is big news! A necromancer came into Gensokyo and now-"

"He's become a lich and is planning on taking over the world, I already know. Yukari sent a letter to the Hakurei Shrine, but the drunk delivering it wound up at the Moriya Shrine instead. What's going on right now?"

"He has hostages! Everybody's letting him go or else he's going to start killing off people in the netherworld." Aya had a crazy glimmer in her eyes, the same kind a gambler would have during a million-dollar winning spree, or a battle-hungry samurai facing off against an entire army by himself and winning. "Front page material right here, I can't think of the last time something like this happened!"

"Aya, what are you thinking? We need to stop him!" Just as she said this, Judas stepped out of the netherworld and into Gensokyo. His arms confidently at his sides, he looked just as Sanae had pictured him. Tall, thin, not bad looking but with an aura that practically bled villainous intent.

"You must be the shrine maiden I've heard so much about," Judas said to Sanae. "Miss Hakurei, I advise you to step down now or suffer an eternity in servitude of me." His patience was running very low, and he was about ready to start killing anybody that stood in his way just for being in his path. _Next stop, non-stop flight directly to the Scarlet Devil Mansion. Once there, I'll find Remilia and show her that the true master of the mansion is me. After my business there has concluded, it will be all of Gensokyo that bows before me._ The way he saw it, when adding his immortality to all the interesting undead beings around Gensokyo and the netherworld, he was in the right spot to be unstoppable.

Sanae was too shocked that Judas mistook her for Reimu that for a moment she couldn't even move. Once she regained her train of thought, she turned around and pulled a spell card out of her pocket.

Before she even had the chance to declare her spell card, though, Judas already had a spell card of his own out. Rather than the usual, his were black with red ink; possibly his blood by the way the ink looked and smelled. "Afterlife Sign: Corpse Decay." The waves of danmaku started out fast, and moved out in a spiral shape, but they quickly slowed down, the first wave barely moving by the time they reached Sanae, with subsequent waves moving a bit faster, though none got near the tengu. Aya had already fled.

Sanae got past the couple waves until she saw the motive behind this spell card. When the bullets slowed down, the bullets behind them were moving faster, meaning that eventually it would become an unavoidable wall of bullets. Before that happened, Sanae fled as well, intending to reach the Hakurei Shrine before Judas got to the Scarlet Devil Mansion.

"Yes, that's right. Run while you still can, mortal. Soon it will be too late, and when it is nowhere will be safe. Not here, not the human realm, especially not the netherworld, and even heaven won't be safe."

* * *

><p>As the sun had risen over the Scarlet Devil Mansion, Remilia had fallen asleep on a chair, though she looked rather uncomfortable. Koakuma had just re-entered the library with a blanket, and put it over the sleeping vampire. "It's amazing," she whispered to herself. "Just because of a small distinguishing feature like her race, it determines the difference between freedom and slavery with this necromancer on the loose. And even worse, I caused all of it. I guess I really did mess up big-time, and how will Miss Patchouli ever forgive me? I jeopardized her friend because of a simple prank that should have been harmless." As she continued whispering worriedly to herself, the door to the library opened. The sight almost made her impulsively wake up Remilia, but she didn't.<p>

"Hello," Judas said. "If you don't mind, I'll be taking my ace card back. If you _do_ mind, on the other hand, I have a fair collection of spell cards I'll gladly use to destroy you and the mansion."

"Please," Koakuma begged. "Let Remilia go safely. I'll do anything you want me to, just name it. I've been a familiar for over a century so I know how to do nearly anything you could possibly want."

"Just name it, eh?" Judas thought about this deeply. "Well, why on earth is a succubus like yourself in a mansion and not getting _any_ action at all? Maybe if you became a stunning concubine to a powerful lich, I may get 'distracted' and 'allow' the vampire to escape…for now."

"Wait…what?" Did Judas really just take her up on her offer? "So, you'd let her go-"

"For the time being."

"Right. But you'd do that and all I have to do is-"

"Become-"

"Stop interrupting me! All I have to do is become an on-demand no-charge prostitute?"

"Oh, prostitute isn't the right word at all, since you are being paid in the form of Lady Remilia's temporary freedom. Think of it more like a do-it-all servant/lady of the house with a very nice sex appeal."

"That's it? No strings attached?"

"That's it. No strings attached." Judas opened the door behind him, and asked "So who is going to be serving me? Will it be Remilia, or you?"

"I…um, well…that's a tough decision." Her succubus nature was kicking in again, as much as she really didn't want it to. "Well, I guess I could, but…" _Do it, Koakuma, you know you want to! There aren't any men in Gensokyo that you're interested in and you'd get killed by Shinki if you went back to Makai so just say yes!_ "I'd love to…master.


	7. Chapter 7: The Ideas of a Frog

**Sorry to keep you waiting, though I don't think this one came out as good as other chapters. Also, if anybody besides Azure is reading this story, gimme a review once in a while, I swear I don't bite! Anyway, things are really heating up in Gensokyo, as numerous people begin planning on how to defeat Judas.**

* * *

><p>"Oh, my. I didn't think you'd actually go through with it." Judas grabbed a piece of paper and a writing utensil and started writing down a note for Remilia for when she woke up. "Dearest Lady Remilia Scarlet," he said as he wrote. "It is with little regret or concern that I inform you that I have taken over your mansion in the course of the morning while you were asleep. Please gather your things and leave when you wake up, or there <em>will<em> be consequences. My shallow condolences, Lord Judas Nekross."

"So it's 'Lord' now," Sakuya said from the door of the library. "You look like a monster from where I am."

"Begone, maid. I just discussed business with your reclusive friend's familiar here, and we've agreed to let the young Lady leave safely in exchange for Koakuma's own…servitude." Sakuya couldn't see it, but Judas smiled at the word 'servitude' when he said it. "Please gather any important belongings and take your leave…immediately."

"And if we don't?"

"What do you mean by we? I only see one unfortunate girl standing all alone. Perhaps she'll go hang herself and then there'll be none. Truly, Sakuya, I did expect you to be the last Indian."

"The last Indian?" _I've heard somebody in this mansion say that before…oh heavens no! He couldn't have possibly found her, she was in the basement under lock, key, and spell! How could he have possibly-_

"Gotten down there so fast? I told you before, I am a very powerful man."

"You never said that at all."

"Well I am now, aren't I? I did tell you just a few seconds ago. Regardless, who did you bring with you that makes you so confident?"

"All the other residents of the Scarlet Devil Mansion."

"_All_ of them? Even little Flandre? If so than I'm afraid to inform you that you may have a 'Judas' within your midst." Judas was always one for puns, and puns involving his name were impossible for him to resist, especially since it was synonymous with traitor.

"No, she's already somewhere else, as is Lady Remilia. I've had a pair of shrine maidens break your spells on the two and everybody else has already gathered their things and left."

"So you're alone again? Just leave."

"I plan to." And then as though she were never there, Sakuya was gone.

"Irritating maid, wasn't she Koakuma?" Despite his best efforts, Judas was never able to really conjure up a familiar. Countless occasions where he summoned a ghost or a zombie, and on a couple rare occasions he managed to summon a lesser lich, but he could never get to the summoning parts of demonology or any other magic. "Now then, time to start redecorating. I'll start outside, please remain here."

"May I ask why?"

"I don't want to kill my familiar on her first day." Judas quickly made his way through the corridors and looked at the flowers in the garden, in their countless colors and species. _Rule number one to being a ruthless king, don't let people get the wrong impression._ Judas raised both hands into the air, and by combining a few curses with an atmospheric hex or two, succeeded in the first steps of his redecorating: to kill off the flowers as well as any plant life. Any trees became gray and leafless, the flowers withered up and died, even the grass shriveled into the dry despair of death despite years of care from Meiling in the past. "So far, so good. I think that'll do for outside, time to see what Remilia really did with the place." He found it somewhat ironic, though, that a man who was raised where Transylvania used to be became the owner of a mansion under the former ownership of a vampire.

* * *

><p>"Sakuya, this is a shrine, not a homeless shelter. I can't just take in three new people without-"<p>

"What if I gave you 10,000 yen?"

"Welcome to the Hakurei Shrine, Sakuya. Make yourself comfy." On the one hand, she was very happy to have just been given 10,000 yen, but on the other she didn't even have three bedrooms in her house that rested behind the shrine. _Not to mention that freeloader Suika is always hanging around being…well, her._ "So where are Remilia and Flandre," Reimu asked just before a sip of tea.

"The Moriya Shrine. We figured that since a sky goddess lives there we could ask her to shelter the shrine from the sun while we sorted out this Judas issue, and at the urging of the other goddess she did. I just hope that Sanae will be okay with two vampires living with her, and Flandre…"

"You're -hic- worrying too much Sakuyaaaaa." Meiling and Suika got back to their previous sake-drinking antics from the last time they met, and Meiling once again fell victim to the lure of endless sake. "Flan and Remi are -hic- gonna be just fine. If Judas tries to get them, there are two goddesses there."

"Yeah," Suika drunkenly added. "And one of them knocked me -hic- out with one punch, just -hic- BANG right on the forehead. Does -hic- it show?" Suika turned to Meiling and pointed where Suwako punched her, and a huge bruise sat there surrounded by a red spot.

"Umm, -hic- no. I don't, I don't see any punch -hic- mark." Meiling stood up and stretched her whole body, yawning loudly. "This youkai's gotta -hic- hit the hay, I think me and Suika can share a room."

* * *

><p>Flandre stared back into the everlasting gaze of the hat resting on Suwako's head, clearly amused just looking into the creepy eyes of a strange hat. It was almost as though the vampire and the hat were the two contestants in a fierce staring contest that could end at any moment. The hat had the same expression as it ever did, and a huge smile was working its way across Flandre's face as she stared back into the stare of a hat.<p>

"Flandre," Remilia and Kanako said in unison. "Please stop staring at the hat, it's creepy."

"Why," Flandre asked. "It's fun! And Suwako doesn't mind."

"Let her have fun," Suwako said. "Besides, I kinda enjoy it too." The earth goddess laughed a little as Flandre turned back to the everlasting gaze of the eerie hat resting on her head. "But all things aside, what are we going to do about this necromancer? Sanae, do you have any ideas?"

"No, not really. All I know is that he mistook me for Reimu and that he was going to the Scarlet Devil Mansion." Sanae looked far from content, and actually seemed very disappointed in herself for having ran away like she did when Judas was at the netherworld.

"Well," Kanako said confidently. "I'll need to stay here whatever you two do so that I can protect the vampires from this Judas person."

"True," Suwako said, with the same ear-to-ear smile on her face as always. Not long after, she placed her hands on the table. A great plan was formulating in her head…

* * *

><p>Even in Hakugyokurou, this Judas problem was becoming quite a topic for conversation. Yuyuko and Yukari were trying to figure out exactly what to do with this necromancer since Yuyuko's earlier guess about the Sanzu River guide was proven to be completely off. After a large mouthful of rice was swallowed, Yuyuko said "Why don't you just send him back to the human realm?"<p>

"He'll just kill himself and come back here. That would mean the two of us using our powers to constantly shift Judas across the border and I don't want to waste the rest of eternity doing something as dull as that." Yukari turned down the food for the most part, not really hungry at the time. "If we found out what's tying him to this world than we could kill him."

"I couldn't tell from way up here, and Youmu couldn't either she told me." Yuyuko took another mouthful of rice, the massive bowl in front of her running empty.

"Yuyuko, that's your tenth bowl of rice. You're eating a lot even for you; just how worried about all this are you?"

"Very. I'm very powerful, but it's possible for Judas to use my power for himself if he came here."

"We'll have to get that Sanzu River guide, she'll be able to deal with him if anybody." Yukari stood up from the table, and said "If you'll excuse me, I have to see a judge about a slacker." Yukari then gapped out of the netherworld, going to Higan so that she could get that river guide to help in defeating this necromancer.

* * *

><p>Judas actually changed nothing inside the mansion, already satisfied with how it looked. "Koakuma," he called.<p>

Before long, the succubus that was now his familiar arrived at the table and chair that used to always be occupied by Patchouli Knowledge. "What do you need, master?"

"Does this library happen to have anything on vampires, specifically the Scarlet sisters?"

"Patchouli wrote one such book. Would you like me to retrieve it for you?"

"Yes. I have a hunch that I'll be seeing those two again in the near future so I need to know everything I can about them before they get here. And while you're doing that, bring my any other books about any resident of Gensokyo, the netherworld, Makai, or any related world. I need to know everything about everybody so that any weakness is exploitable."

"Right away, master." Koakuma rushed off, since there was a lot of such books. She always wondered what Patchouli was doing with books about the residents of Gensokyo, especially about Patchouli herself, but it seemed that the book would now serve its purpose.

"They are a troublesome bunch," Judas said to himself. "I know that nobody in their right mind would dare bring the Scarlet sisters to fight me because of the sheer amount of power they have. Of course, there are a few people here in Gensokyo who, to my experience, aren't all that bright. It makes me wonder…"

* * *

><p>Suwako smiled and nodded victoriously at her excellent plan. "And the two for the job are right there!" The goddess's finger was pointing straight at the vampiric sisters that were each having some tea with some of Sanae's blood mixed in. "They're the ones who have to come with us to fight Judas!"<p>

Kanako spit out her own blood-free tea, and asked "Are you insane! Suwako, you know how powerful these two are, using them, _using vampires_ of this power against a necromancer would be like trying to fight you underground, Suwako! Or like trying to fight me in the sky, it just doesn't work!"

"You obviously weren't listening, Kanako. Let me explain again, the plan is flawless _because_ it uses the Scarlet sisters. You see, the first thing we have to do is…"

* * *

><p><strong>This one is the shortest one yet, but I couldn't think of anything to write for this one, so consider this a filler chapter. As ZUN would put it: "Girls are now preparing..."<br>I thought something went down here, but then I remembered it'll be the next chapter. On a final note, it would seem that this Judas crisis is going to meet its end soon, I wonder who he will kill? Also, don't think that this story will die alongside Judas, I have a number of ways to continue the adventures of Hong Meiling without that necromancer (one such idea being based off Great Fairy Wars somewhat) being around.**


	8. Chapter 8: Arming the Troops

**Now we're getting somewheres big! This is my second chapter up in a day, though Judas's reign is going to end in the next couple of chapters. If any of you readers liked Judas and the new youkai who appears in this chapter, I could direct you to a site in which more such characters can be found if you want. Anyway, let's see if you can find all the EoSD references in this one (many of them are from Flan's game dialogue just to tip you off)**

* * *

><p>It was night at the Hakurei Shrine, and as Meiling had said earlier that day, her and Suika were able to share a room. The Chinese youkai looked at her new drinking buddy, and now that she was sober, said "Thanks again for the sake."<p>

"It's -hic- nothing! I have unlimited sake, so I can share it with everybody." Suika took down another mouthful of the intoxicating drink, and after swallowing asked "So how are you going to -hic- get rid of Judas?"

"I'm not really certain myself. I remember last time I was here I said something, but I was so drunk I can't remember it anymore." Meiling sat on the futon that the two would be sharing, and thought hard about what she had previously planned. "I'm sure Reimu and Sakuya are already figuring something out, those two always cut to the chase."

"I heard somebody -hic- snoring when I came back here, and you'd be surprised that Reimu -hic- doesn't snore." Suika laughed, and said "Sakuya snores like -hic- a bear!" Suika couldn't hold back her laughter until a knife penetrated one of her horns.

Sakuya mischievously smiled at the oni, and said "I got you. I don't snore at all, and shouldn't you two be getting some rest? Meiling, _you_ if anybody should be asleep." The maid shrugged, retrieved her knife from the oni, and left. Indeed, her and Reimu were already planning out how to defeat Judas but almost every conclusion they came to wasn't working well. When Sakuya returned to Reimu's room with some tea, she rested her head on the table and said "We'll need a real genius to figure this one out."

"It seems to be that way…what happened to Patchouli?" It was probably because everybody was used to not seeing her until they remembered that they weren't in the Scarlet Devil Mansion, but Patchouli had already left the shrine, certain of how to defeat Judas.

* * *

><p>Her fragility made the flight a bit irritating to the magician, but Patchouli already knew how to defeat Judas. As powerful as he was, none of that would matter if he couldn't perceive the locations of his enemies, so Patchouli intended to remove all five of Judas's senses even if she had to tear the required body parts from his being in order to do it.<p>

Once she landed at the mansion, she took a few moments to catch her breath. It was rare that she ever left, so a flight as long as from the Hakurei Shrine to here was almost unprecedented had it not been for the flight that got her at the shrine in the first place. She couldn't destroy anything since it would be Remilia's again once this was over with and she didn't want to be held responsible for any damage caused to the mansion.

Before long, she found Judas sitting in a throne-like chair with a glass of wine in his hand. "Ah, Patchouli Knowledge. I've been expecting you."

"I already know what you are, Judas. I also know your weakness."

"Really, now? And what, pray tell, would that weakness be? I'm immortal, the power of the undead, demons, and so much more courses through-"

"Holy objects are your weakness. I may not have any of those on me," she said, pulling out a spell card. "But I do have Five Elements Sign: Philosopher's Stone!" Danmaku quickly filled the area between the two as a battle of the elements versus the supernatural commenced.

"Interesting. And I have Plague Sign: Black Death!" Judas's spell card fired out black danmaku in straight lines around him, but soon after the lines all scattered in random directions before he fired a second wave, this one only meant to restrict Patchouli's movement. "A spell card that nobody can dodge, its technique is perfect." The new lines of danmaku closed in on Patchouli, giving her continually less room to dodge. Eventually, she was all but trapped but the danmaku moved no closer. Instead, a laser began charging directly in front of Judas; a laser that would surely hit Patchouli. "One little magician fighting all alone, she challenged a man named Judas and then there were none." The laser fired, and Judas could only hear one noise aside from the laser fire.

"Mukyu!" It was over, Judas had won this time, so as soon as Patchouli was able to move, she tried to leave.

"Not so fast, I can't let you go like that." With a snap of his fingers, two bursts of flame blocked the door and when they were gone, two large demons with axes were blocking the path out of the mansion. "I won, so you are now my prisoner. I decided to turn that basement into a rather fun little dungeon, so these two demons will promptly escort you to your new home. Oh, and if you try to escape I will know; the walls have ears and eyes of their own." The victorious lich watched his short-term demon servants take Patchouli away, when Koakuma came to him.

"You won't hurt her, will you?"

"Why are you so concerned for Patchouli?"

"Because, master, she is still the one who summoned me here from Makai just in the nick of time to save my life. I just worry about her in that cold dusty dungeon of a cellar."

"While I understand where you're coming from, remember that she is also the one who forced you, a succubus, to go for well over a century without any interaction that could be deemed even slightly sexual at all whatsoever."

"That's…true." Judas had clearly studied quite a bit, every word he said hit home in Koakuma's mind. The fact that what he just said was true caused a bit of a rage to boil in her heart; a rage directed at the One-Week Magician. "But I already can tell you're much different than that, master."

"Yes, that's true. I've always dreamt of having a succubus for a familiar, especially one with such stunning looks as yourself."

"Is that so? Why did you dream of having a succubus in particular?"

"I've learned that succubi have…distinct perks as a familiar that their masters are able to truly enjoy."

Koakuma ran a finger down Judas's neck, and said "I think I know exactly what kind of perks you're talking about. Would you like a demonstration of such perks?"

"Who wouldn't? Lead on, my charming familiar, so that I may see the excellent perks that you have to offer me."

* * *

><p>Suika and Meiling had fallen fast asleep on the futon together. Or, to be more accurate, Meiling fell asleep and Suika had passed out drunk next to Meiling. Tomorrow would be a big day as soon as a plan to defeat Judas came to be, but Meiling's gatekeeper instincts were still running in full gear. That woke her up when she heard a twig outside snap when somebody stepped on it. By sheer instinct, Meiling ran out through the back door and ran after the youkai that snapped the twig. Once she got there, she tackled the youkai onto the ground, completely unaware of what she was doing until it was done.<p>

"Hey," the snake youkai said. "What are you doing?"

"I should ask you the same," Meiling responded, standing up and offering a hand to help up the youkai she just knocked over. "Why were you sneaking around here?"

"I heard that the gatekeeper of the Scarlet Devil Mansion was here, so I came to see if it was true." The youkai was a girl of yellow eyes and green hair, and had scales covering her four limbs. They were neither yellow nor green, but brown instead, and made a nice contrast to her very pale white skin. "Since you're here, I guess it is true."

Meiling was now extra curious. How did this youkai know she was the gatekeeper, and why did she care? "Who are you?"

"My name is Zabi, and I am a snake youkai who's been watching you guard the gates to the Scarlet Devil Mansion. I always wished I could do something like that, but most people don't trust snakes."

"I see. And that's why you came here, to tell me that?"

"No. I came here to ask why you stopped guarding the gates. You're so good at it, and now you've just stopped."

"You see, a few days ago somebody brought a necromancer into Gensokyo. He took control of Lady Remilia and had her fire me. I'm sure I'll get my job back once all this is over, but I don't really know if I want to go on guarding that gate. It's such a boring job, and I always get punished by Sakuya for falling asleep on the job."

Behind the two, somebody said "Then -hic- quit!" Suika was no longer passed out, obviously not as knocked out as she seemed earlier. "If you don't like something, -hic- why bother doing it?"

"Because it pays. Isn't that why people get jobs?"

"No, it's about job satisfaction! How many people do you know who don't like alcohol and work in a bar, or vegetarians who work as butchers?" Suika downed another mouthful of sake to make her point, and laid back on the grass. "-hic- You see Meiling, if you don't like what you're doing then -hic- the money won't make you happy. If you aren't happy, what's the point of even bothering to do it in the first place?"

"That's…that's awfully thought out, especially for you."

"What's -hic- that supposed to mean?"

Meiling laughed, and said "Nothing at all." This new advice that Suika had given her… Meiling had never even considered quitting her job in all the years she worked at the Scarlet Devil Mansion, but so many questions ran through her head about if she did. Where would she go? What would she do with herself from there? How would she get her meals? Would Lady Remilia hate her for it? And most of all, what would become of Flandre? Meiling was her favorite person in the entire mansion, and probably in the world, so what would happen if Meiling suddenly up and left? Would she be allowed to visit the younger Scarlet sister again from time to time, or…

"Meiliiiiiiiing!" From above, a pair of vampires were flying down toward the trio of youkai and oni, and anybody who knew them would easily recognize the two, especially the figure dressed in red that was flying far faster than the others. With a resounding crash that surely woke up the two humans inside the shrine, Flandre flew through a tree and crashed into Meiling, knocking the gatekeeper back into another tree. "Owww…" Flandre ran up to Meiling and pulled her up to her feet, saying "Come on, we're going home!"

"You mean Judas is dead?"

"Suwako told me he was."

"Since when?"

Suwako quickly leaped out of the ground to explain. "Since later tonight. We're all going to fight him right now, and I know you want to come along."

"_All of us_? Even Flandre and Remilia?"

"Trust me, Meiling, it's all part of the plan." Suwako went into the Hakurei Shrine to retrieve the resident miko and the maid sleeping within. This wouldn't be easy, but it was doable. Suwako had everything planned out in this fight, and if all went well it would be no time at all before everything was the way it should have been.

* * *

><p>Judas could feel their presence. "Koakuma, I want you to remain in the basement until this fight concludes. I wouldn't like my familiar to get hurt on my own accord, especially not one such as you." The perks to having a succubus were better than he imagined, and he had no intention of letting those perks come to an end.<p>

"As you wish, master." Koakuma wasn't particularly fine with hiding away while her new master did all the fighting, but at the worst it was a chance to talk with Patchouli and avoid getting hurt.

* * *

><p><strong>Let the games begin! Judas has one more trick up his sleeve (and you're probably asking yourself "wtf is Suwako's plan?" by now and honestly I don't know either X. We'll just have to trust the frog goddess on this one and pray for the safety of the vampies. Pray to Suwako people! And the god of the Hakurei Shrine...who is the Hakurei Shrine's god anyway?<strong>


	9. Chapter 9: Tragedy Born of Hatred

**Sorry for the delay! My muse on this died for a while until I thought of something clever. There's some more mature language in this one, mostly from Meiling's mouth (Meiling, you little fiend you!) and can any of you find the Tenacious D reference in this chapter?**

* * *

><p>It would be a few hours before the sun came back up, and the team that would ultimately defeat Judas (hopefully) was standing at the front gates. Composing this team was Hong Meiling, Sakuya Izayoi, Remilia Scarlet, Flandre Scarlet, Reimu Hakurei, Sanae Kochiya, Suwako Moriya, Kanako Yasaka, Suika Ibuki, and Zabi. The small raid team was ready to go, and everybody's responsibility in the team was already discussed.<p>

"Ready?" Suwako asked. The response she got of the two vampires nodding pleased her, since they were the first two to go in. "Don't forget the plan. Just let him do what he will. Now get going!"

The two vampires ran in, Flandre breaking the door down without much effort. The first thing they saw was Judas.

"Welcome." Judas sprinted past the sisters, out the door, and up into the sky. He had spent all the time between him originally sensing their presences and this moment preparing a very powerful demonic spell, one that was meant to transform Judas once again. If the spell didn't work it would kill him, but he didn't mind that at all since he would just come back from the dead. However, if it worked he would no longer be a lich, and thus would be dead for good if he died. Once he was a more-than-fair distance in the air, he cast the spell. Black and red energies surrounded him as his final transformation successfully began.

"Suwako," Sakuya asked, "I trust you planned for this?"

"Umm, actually no. I didn't see that one coming at all, but we'll just stick to the old plan, okay?"

"Are you insane?"

"Possibly."

The energies surrounding Judas dispersed, as he emerged something…different. He now had massive black wings twice the size of his own body, and glowing red eyes. Numerous spines had appeared along his entire body, and deep cuts formed runic symbols on his body that quickly healed and left black ink. Using the combined powers of demonology, necromancy, and hexes, he turned himself into something that defied explanation. It was certainly a type of demon, but if one knew everything about his state, they would know that he also had the attributes of a vampire as well as some remaining parameters from his previous lichdom. "Now," he said with a voice that echoed like thunder, "I am complete."

"Fuck." Meiling was extraordinarily thrown off by this transformation, but Suwako kept repeating the same phrase.

"Stick to the plan, stick to the plan, stick to the plaaaan!" Suwako pointed up toward Judas, and said "Flandre, Remilia, you know what to do!"

"Got it!" The two vampires flew up in pursuit of the new Judas, Remilia pulling out her Gungnir and Flandre readying her Laevatien. With a spear that never missed its mark and a sword built to cause the apocalypse, it seemed that the fight was in favor of the vampires.

Obviously it wasn't, with Judas being a necromancer. "Silly girls, trying to fight the one thing that controls you." With one hand pointed at Remilia and the other pointed at Flandre, he cast the same vampire control spell he did when he first arrived in Gensokyo. It would have surely worked since he was now much more powerful than he was then. "Now, sisters of the Scarlet heritage, go and kill the remaining team!"

"Okay…wasn't expecting that to actually work," Suwako nervously said. "New plan, stall until somebody comes up with a new plan!" Gungnir never missed its mark, but that didn't mean that once Remilia made her first shot with said spear, Suwako couldn't shield the team with a barrier of earth. Fortunately, that idea worked well and for the time being, they were safe. But only until a sword of fire cut straight through the barrier Suwako built like it was butter instead of solid rock.

Now the only option the two really had was to run until a stroke of genius hit somebody. But even through the panic of the rest of the team, Suwako was still smiling as if she'd already won. "Suwako," Kanako asked. "What are you so confident about again?"

"Oh, you'll see. Just a little something Sanae and Reimu made a few days ago when we took the vampires in." It was so simple yet so incredibly astounding of an idea. Suwako wouldn't divulge the nature of what she had the shrine maidens make, but it was the exact reason the vampires were the ones who were supposed to fight Judas.

Around the fleeing team, everything was being destroyed by a Flandre Scarlet who was having trouble swinging a weapon as big as Laevatein. Everybody was timing jumps carefully to dodge devastating sweeps from Laevatien and last-second dodges of Gungnir. "Ha," Suwako taunted. "You _missed_ me!"

"Quit running," Flandre yelled. "I can't kill you if you…keep…moving!" The younger sister was running out of energy it seemed as she gradually slowed down, eventually descending into the branches of a tree to get some rest.

Now Remilia had to do all the work herself. "Stop moving!" Gungnir never missed its mark, but that mark was hard to establish if the target kept running around. Even worse was that she was combating goddesses and other powerful residents of Gensokyo. Eventually, though, she got a lucky shot in Suwako's arm.

The frog goddess went down in the pain of having a godly weapon shot through you, and was quickly picked up by Meiling. "Come on," she said while running. "You're going to live, Suwako. You're a goddess, they're a tough breed."

"Don't you know it? We're also exceptionally smart and are masters at making plans. I already knew Remi was going to shoot me, and I even knew where. Her and I discussed the whole plan in secret."

"What plan?"

Suwako nodded, and looked up at Remilia. "Alright," she called. "Now's the time, show us the secret weapon."

Remilia smiled and pulled from her dress what looked like an amulet. "Anti-magic amulet," she said, speaking loud enough so that everybody, especially Judas, could hear her. "They're built to repel all magic directed at whoever holds it and it negates the magic. Suwako thought of it as a secondary measure to protect us from you, Judas."

"That may be," Judas seethed. "But I still have the younger sister!" Judas moved an open hand toward her, saying "Meiling certainly knows what I'll do to her if you all don't step down now! If you don't all surrender by the time I count to three, little Flandre will be on the other end of the hand that goes 'kyuu' for once!"

"Your threat isn't intimidating, Judas."

"…One!"

Meiling was panicking. Was he for real? There was certainly the chance that Flandre also had an anti-magic amulet, but what if she didn't? She would die if Remilia didn't back down.

"…Two!"

"Lady Remilia," Meiling said, making her panic unfortunately obvious. "She's your sister, just back down!"

"Ah, China," Judas said. "Ever afraid to risk an innocent life. That is why as a gatekeeper you were weak, and that is why I was so easily able to take your place."

Now she was no longer afraid as much as angry. "What was that?" It was one thing to harm her, and another thing to hurt her friends. A third thing entirely it was to conspire to rule Gensokyo through the very mansion she guarded, but to question her power as a gatekeeper and openly insult her like that? Unacceptable! "Repeat that, please."

"I said that as a gatekeeper, you were weak! It takes no genius to notice how so many books were missing from Voile, or how there was always an uninvited guest wandering the mansion! You're no more reliable than you _oh-so-grand_ homeland, China!"

Meiling's rage was physically visible by nearly every vein in her body twitching, as well as the uncontrollable shaking of her hands. "My name…is not China!" Readying herself to charge Judas with unprecedented ferocity and brutality, she yelled "My name is Hong Meiling!"

Just as Meiling charged, Suwako felt something under her hat. Reaching in to investigate, she found the second anti-magic amulet. "Meiling, stop!" Following Suwako's plea were a number of voices telling her to stop before Judas killed Flandre.

"Don't do it!"

"Please think this over!"

"Stop there!"

"It's not safe!"

"Chill -hic- out!"

Judas's voice, however, sounded pleased. "And that makes THREE!" Judas closed his hand, effectively crushing Flandre Scarlet. She would live, but not for long. "It seems she wasn't protected from my magic for some reason."

Once that happened, everybody rushed to Flandre. The residents of the Scarlet Devil Mansion, aside from the head maid who nearly cried, actually _were _crying, Remilia for her sister and Meiling for her friend. But Meiling wasn't going to let Judas get away with this.

"You all stay here," Meiling said coldly before removing her hat. "I'll pound this bastard so hard he'll regret even thinking about coming anywhere near Gensokyo." With that, Meiling flew over to Judas, ready to unleash every ounce of what she believed he deserved. Once the two were face-to-face, Meiling said "It's going to be just you and me, Judas."

"Really, now? From grief grows hate, and from hate, foolishness. To think you can single-handedly defeat me makes you a fool like no-" Before Judas could finish his sentence, Meiling's fist tore through his body, in through the front of where his stomach was, and straight out the back.

That was only her getting started. From there, Meiling began delivering equally powerful punches and kicks to nearly every inch of Judas's body, intending to deliver ten-thousand times the pain he had inflicted on Youmu, and now Flandre as well. If it was the very last thing she would do, Meiling would kill Judas Nekross with a very painful death. Every sentence she spoke was punctuated with another body-piercing punch to a vital organ, as she hatefully said "You bastard! Do you enjoy seeing other people suffer, you sick monster! Now it's your turn, I want you to scream and cry and beg for mercy! When I'm through with you, your unborn grandchildren will cry once they see what I've done to you!" To punctuate her final sentence, she planned on aiming for Judas's head to kill him once and for all. "Rest in pieces, you hopeless fuck!" _KA-POW_

It was over, but even as Judas's body fell to the ground below, Meiling continued her monstrous assault, looking vastly more like a youkai than she had in her entire life. Even her hateful words didn't stop. "Just for bringing somebody as horrible as you to Gensokyo, I should kill Koakuma too! She doesn't deserve it, though, so it's all you, monster! No matter how many times you come back to life, I'll kill you over and over like a starving dragon looking for necromancer meat! I'll kill you, kill you, **I'll kill you with my own hands!**"

Sakuya and Remilia quickly ran to Meiling, grabbing her arms and trying to pull her away. "Calm down," Sakuya said. "It's over now."

"No," Meiling said, going through that transition from when you just want to destroy everything in sight to the point where you're so upset that all you want to destroy is yourself. "He killed Flandre." The gatekeeper broke down into tears with full knowledge about this. Even if this was Gensokyo where so many magic energies made it nearly impossible to kill something, Judas was from the real world so the rules were different. Not only that, but it was magic energy that killed Flandre to begin with. To Meiling, this Judas crisis would never be over.

For three weeks, nobody saw her at the Scarlet Devil Mansion. She didn't want the other residents to see her crying, so she stayed away until she was certain that she was feeling at least a bit better. When she did arrive, the first thing she saw was a very worried Sakuya. "Look," Meiling said. "That day when we fought Judas. A friend gave me advice, and well…"

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><p><strong>Wow, she really let him have it! Am I the only one who A: cried when Flan got crushed and B: gets turned on by angry Meiling?<strong>

**Anyway, this Judas incident still isn't over. There are loose ends that need to be tied up, such as what Meiling is going to say! I'll give you a hint: in this chapter Meiling lost something very important to her, in the next she will lose one of her core traits. Any loose ends will be tied up next chapter and something new will await our favorite gatekeeper!**


	10. Chapter 10: Beyond the Horizon

**Now we are here! This chapter's main goals are to tie up two big loose ends from the last chapter (what is Meiling going to say and what became of Judas and Flandre) and lay out the grounds for the next chapter. I believe I did both very well. And Flandre fans fear not! She'll appear again (remember playing SWR?**

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><p>"Yes," Sakuya asked. "And what?"<p>

Meiling smiled and said "And I quit. There are much more satisfying jobs out there for me to find and try out, and I can't be punished by maids at those other jobs."

The snake youkai Zabi came out from behind the wall, and asked "Then who will guard the gates here, Meiling? You're the best at it, that's why you're my idol."

Meiling approached the snake youkai with the same smile on her face, and placed a hand on Zabi's head. "And it's because you idolize me that I want you to be the one to replace me. I remember a few days after I killed Judas that you came across me in the forest. I was still feeling terrible for letting Flandre die like that because I needed to prove that I was something great, and to be honest I still do feel really bad about it, but you said something that made me realize that it was you who was cut out for this, not me. Do you remember what you said?"

"As clear as day. I told you that no matter how bad somebody felt, for the sake of others they had to keep moving on and never think about their wrongs so that the rights seem that much greater. I told you that everybody has some bad moments and people do die, but it's because of that exact death that life is so valuable."

"That was exactly it, word for word." Meiling took her hat off, and placed it on Zabi's head instead. "Sakuya," she said. "I'm sure you can trust a snake for me?"

"Yes, but…you've been here for so long. Where are you going to go from here? What will you do, how will you make a living?"

"I'm not sure. I'll try a bit of this and some of that, but before anything else, I need to speak with a couple of people at the Hakurei Shrine."

It was his time. After three weeks of waiting after crossing that damn river, it was finally his time to be judged. As Judas looked around, he noticed that it was only himself and the Yama, so he would probably be in for something vicious.

"Judas Nekross," Shikieiki started. "…I don't even know where to start with you. If I spent an entire lecture on every single one of your flaws, we would be in here for years."

"Better cut to the chase then, eh?"

"Not before I at least point out your biggest flaws. You're arrogant, manipulative, selfish, greedy, sadistic, violent, lustful, and most of all you, to my understanding, tried to take over Gensokyo and killed an innocent in the process."

Judas simply smiled at the Yama's harsh words, and impatiently said "Can you just hurry it up? I have some scheming to do and I can't do it while listening to somebody rant about what's wrong with me."

Shikieiki simply stared the necromancer down, and said "Black! I don't even need to look at you to know evil you are, so I sentence you to an eternity in the lowest pits of Hell where you will undergo torture even you can't imagine. You will heal at an amazing rate while there, but only so that you may be maimed even more rapidly with rusty and serrated blades. Furthermore, upon arrival you will be stripped of any and all powers you possess. Now get out of my sight; you sicken me you monster." The Yama was glad to have him out of her courtroom, and looked at the next person to enter. She was small, and appeared to be of roughly ten years of age. She dressed in red, but the thing that caught Shikieiki's eyes were her wings. They looked like some kind of metal, and had various colored prisms hanging from them. "And," the Yama carefully asked, "I assume that you're Flandre Scarlet?"

Flandre happily nodded and asked "Are you playing a game? This room looks fun."

"I'm not playing a game, no. 495 years is a long time and I imagine that your trip along the Sanzu River was long, but I already know all the details from going over Judas's life. You waited patiently in that basement for the day when you would finally be let out to be with your sister, all the while having no clue of what was really happening."

"What was happening down there?"

"Nothing. Nothing at all. For you…White. You'll go to Heaven and will never have to be confined to a basement ever again. There are many other people there, and I'm sure lots of them would be more than happy to play games with you."

"Yay! I don't really get it, but it sounded good!" Flandre happily left, more than eager to meet all these people that would play games with her.

Shikieiki smiled. "It's really rewarding sometimes," she said to herself. "When people like her are given White, they're just so joyous that it makes me happy to simply watch them."

"Shiki-sama," Komachi said behind the judge. "You have a guest."

The Yama nearly jumped out of her shoes at Komachi's sudden arrival, and said "It's not that gap youkai again, is it?"

"No, this one is the girl who killed Judas Nekross, the necromancer you just sent to Hell." Komachi stepped aside to show Hong Meiling standing behind her.

It took some effort to convince Yukari to gap her here, but she did arrive. "Did I miss you give down the verdicts for Flandre Scarlet and Judas Nekross?"

"You just barely missed both. Would you like to know what happened?"

"Yes, please. That's why I'm here."

"Judas will spend eternity in the lowest pits of Hell, and he should feel lucky to deserve even that. All his powers have been removed and rapid regeneration will only serve to bring no breaks at all to unimaginable pain inflicted by rusty serrated blades."

"That bastard got off easy if you ask me."

"As for Flandre, I literally just now sent her to Heaven a few seconds ago. Don't worry, she's in a better place."

"Is it okay for a vampire to live in Heaven, where nothing blocks the sun?"

"When a Yama sends them, their vampiric weaknesses are lifted."

Meiling smiled brightly, then ran up to Shikieiki and hugged her tightly. "Thank you. I can't begin to describe how much I need to thank you. I was so worried about Flandre and I just needed to know she was alright."

"Yes, she's fine. You should go, though, before I decide to hand down a judgment to _you_."

"Oh…right, I'm going now." Meiling already did everything she needed to do here, so it was easy to say she was ready to go. Crossing the Sanzu River was a bit of a trip for her, but that was why she had Yukari send her rather than the guide.

Once she stepped back through that gap, she was back at the Hakurei Shrine where Reimu still seemed to be getting over the shock of Meiling quitting her job. Suika, on the other hand, seemed to be taking it very well. "So -hic- how'd it go?"

"Judas is being tortured in the lowest pits of Hell for all eternity with rusty serrated blades."

"Serves him right! He -hic- took your job right out from under your nose!" To make her point clearer, Suika moved one of her fingers across the air beneath her nose. She had entirely forgotten about Flandre, having gotten so unimaginably drunk that night that she could barely remember the fight and her astounding lack of activity in it. "So, -hic- what're you gonna do now?"

"Well, I have no job or home, and no source of income. I better find those first."

"Live here," Suika said loudly.

"Hell no," Reimu said even louder. "I already have one to three freeloaders here at any time of day, and you Yukari and Mima are already more than I'm willing to put up with!"

"Mima -hic- still comes around here?"

"Regretfully, she comes by from time to time and tries to…do whatever."

"Wow…-hic-."

Meiling looked at the oni, and said "Actually, I have an idea." A great, excellent idea.

"Really? What?"

"It sounds kind of cheesy, but an adventure. We'll explore every corner of Gensokyo, the netherworld, Makai, and everywhere else too."

"Even -hic- the human world?"

"Maybe at some point in time, just maybe. I hear they have stronger sake there." If anything, _that _would get Suika's interest.

"Stronger sake? Then what are -hic- we waiting for!" Suika leapt to her feet and said "Let's go, Meiling!" After saying this, she took down yet another mouthful of sake. An endless gourd of sake had many perks to an oni who loved her alcohol, most of them obvious. "For sake!"

"If that's what you're in this for, than for sake it is." Meiling was about to ask Reimu if she had any spare change to help the two get on their feet, then she remembered that it was usually Reimu asking for spare change for donations. "Come on Suika, let's see what we can find."

"You've -hic got it!" Suika pointed to the door, and said "Let's -hic- go!" Suika ran out the door, not bothering to open it on her way. It wasn't that she wanted to break Reimu's door down or that she disliked the miko so much as that she couldn't tell if it was closed or not in her drunken stupor and excitement.

Meiling turned a bright red at Suika's ramming of Reimu's door. "I-I'll pay for that…as soon as I have some money to pay you with, okay?"

Reimu on the other hand was red in anger. Destroying a whole shrine was bad enough, but destroying just one part was worse to her. It meant she had to see if anybody had a spare door lying around. "Just go," she said. "And do me a favor?"

"Sure, what is it?"

"Keep Suika _as far away_ from here as you can."

"Okay, I guess…" Meiling wasn't exactly sure what to say about that request, especially since the oni had just busted through a door like that. Meiling left the shrine, using the oni-shaped hole in the door as her exit. It took more than a fair deal of running, and by the time she caught up to Suika she was already off the grounds of the shrine, but she did catch up before long.

"Which -hic- way do we go?"

Meiling looked around, and pointed to the largest mountain she could see. "To the top of that mountain. We'll go by foot so that there's even more sights to see, and once we get there we'll figure out where to go next." Some people said that the greatest adventures began with a single step. Meiling took that into consideration as the pair of youkai and oni set out toward Youkai Mountain. She had always wanted to go there but never could because of her gatekeeper duties.

Not only that, but this would help her forget about all the bad things that had happened to her recently. Suika knew it too, and even while staggering in a line that could certainly not be called straight, she took down one mouthful after another of sake. After three such mouthfuls, she extended her arm to Meiling, gourd in hand. "Sake?"

"Sure, why not?"

* * *

><p><strong>I like this chapter...a lot! Also, I think a know a guy who can help Reimu with her door problem. Anyway, there were some tiny loose ends earlier in the story that involved a fairy and later a nekomata...I think I'll resolve those.<strong>


	11. Chapter 11: The Quest Begins!

**And the big adventure begins! For future reference, whatever color Suika's hair is (brown according to some) I perceive it as orange, so for the sake of this story her hair is orange! Please keep that in mind during this chapter or you'll miss out on a very funny joke.**

* * *

><p>It had been more than a few hours since Meiling and Suika started what would hopefully become the greatest adventure in the history of Gensokyo, and the two were deep in a forest. Meiling was partially regretting giving Zabi her hat like that because a few loose twigs were landing on her head, but she also enjoyed not having her hat anymore because the top of her head could feel the light breeze coming through. The scene was like something straight out of a work of fiction with the vibrant colors and the sounds, and sometimes sights, of fairies giggling everywhere, possibly having some kind of party or planning a massive prank on these two strangers. Whatever they were doing, the atmosphere itself was relaxing and even a bit entertaining to Meiling. "You know, Suika, you were right."<p>

"Oh, yeah? About -hic- what?"

"When you said I should quit my job. I haven't felt this good in a long time, and I guess I sort of owe it to you. Thanks, Suika."

"-hic- I said that?" Suika couldn't really remember with all the alcohol always rushing through her body. The event sounded vaguely familiar to her, but she was more focused on getting to the top of Youkai Mountain like Meiling said they would. The tengu probably wouldn't be too happy with two people climbing all the way up the mountain, especially since one of them was Suika. "I don't remember."

"You were drunk."  
>"I'm <em>always<em> drunk. Oni are meant to get drunk and have fun, so I'm gonna do it!" To make her point, she took down some more sake. She wasn't really paying as much attention to her surroundings as Meiling, as was obvious when a tiny fairy who couldn't fly had the misfortune of meeting the bottom of Suika's foot. Her ears were deaf to the fairy's pleas to keep walking, but simply because Meiling was moving on, Suika continued as well. Looking through all the trees and such, she finally came to notice all of the things happening around the two. "Whoa, look at all the fairies!"

Meiling laughed a bit and said "You just now noticed them?"

Suika turned a bit red at the cheeks at that, and looked up at Meiling. "Can't help -hic- it if I'm drunk." However, Suika forgot to turn her head back to face in front of her, and walked into something that knocked her over. She wasn't sure what it was, but whatever knocked her over was cold.

Meiling looked at what Suika collided with, a bit disturbed by the burnt dress that the frozen ice fairy was wearing. "I wonder," she asked herself. "Who encases themselves in ice during the winter?"

"It's winter?"

"Winter just started." Meiling looked at the ice statue. Well, she looked like she could have been badly burnt at one point, but all her wounds had healed. Her clothes, however, still had quite a few holes from being burnt; and it looked rather painful too. "Should we let her out?"

"Yes!" Suika got up to her feet, and looked the frozen fairy straight in the eyes. The fairy looked somewhat familiar, like a figure from a dream that you don't remember, but Suika was mostly able to only observe the obvious because of the influence of alcohol. "That's a lot of blue…-hic- don't you think?"

"Of all the things in the world to notice…" Meiling took a few steps back, intending to smash the ice open. Once she was ten or so steps away, she ran toward the ice with a fist reared behind her. For a second, the fairy in the ice looked really panicked, but that quickly faded as Meiling's fist shattered the ice. The fairy that was now freed looked around, seemingly confused by where she was.

"Who are you," she asked. Then something important occurred to her. "Wah! I'm late! I can't believe I left everybody waiting, I've gotta go!" Without missing a beat, the fairy began to fly off, speaking rapidly to herself. "I left everybody else hanging! If I weren't so strong they'd let me have it, especially Rumia! She can't stand waiting for anything and I don't even know how long I was frozen!"

Meiling watched the ice fairy fly off, and was a bit confused herself. "That was…odd to say the least."

"You see," Suika drunkenly stated in her best attempt to clarify things. "She's a fairy and they -hic- have powers over nature. She was obviously an ice -hic- fairy and froze herself for some reason. Why she did it is -hic- beyond me, but she was obviously going -hic- to meet somebody named Rumia and some other people. I guess they're her -hic- friends?"

"I guess so?" Meiling could comprehend everything Suika was saying, but for some reason her explanation wasn't helping much. Maybe it was because she could barely understand a single drunken word that slurred out of Suika's mouth at this point, what with the small oni having trouble even standing straight. But, for all it was worth, it made at least a bit of sense, so Meiling just went with it. Meiling looked around throughout the forest for a bit, hoping to find some kind of answer there. But when she looked back at Suika, the oni was fishing around in her blouse for something. "Breasts don't magically pop up Suika, no matter how hard you want them to."

Suika's entire face turned red at that, and she said "It's not that! I just remembered that I had to -hic- deliver a letter from Yukari to Reimu! But I can't find the letter in my blouse where I put it!" Suika began searching around her frantically, falling over on more than a few occasions, in search of the missing letter. It had to be around there somewhere! "If I can't find it, Judas will become a lich!"

At first, Meiling was also genuinely concerned about the letter. But as soon as Suika sort of explained the nature of the delivery, Meiling's entire expression changed from concern to amusement. "Suika," she laughed. "We already killed Judas, remember?"

"Whaaat?"

"It was three weeks ago, did you already forget?"

"Three weeks ago…last thing I remember doing three -hic- weeks ago would be…oh! There was a party at the Hakurei Shrine! But it wasn't very happy for a party, and you weren't there. It wasn't as fun as a normal party but there was still people and nice food, and I had lots of sake! I saw the maid there, and I saw Remi. Why weren't you there, Meiling?"

"I was somewhere else. I lost a friend and I thought it'd just be best to avoid people for a while." Even with a decent amount of time past since the night Flandre was killed, it was still a very uncomfortable subject for Meiling. She needed something to distract Suika…since the oni was _very_ drunk at this point, even for her, it would probably be pretty easy. And then, as though Heaven itself knew she was looking for a distraction, something fell out of the sky. It was a sword that was yellow in color, and it looked somewhat unusual for a sword for no reason at all. Perfect to distract Suika with, especially since it landed close enough to Suika to make her yelp and jump back a fair bit.

Suika looked up at the sky, partially to make sure no more swords were falling from the sky, and partially to look for who dropped (or threw) the sword next to her. Once she found nobody, she did what she figured would be best. Suika gathered an immense amount of air in her lungs, and poured it all out in five words. "Don't throw swords at me!" All around her, fairies were fleeing in confusion as were any creatures that weren't either Meiling or Suika. Then she turned to the sword, certain that the mysterious sword-thrower would either be back or ran away, in which case it was all hers! "Lemme -hic- see…I think I've seen this sword before."

"Really? It looks a bit odd to me."

"I -hic- remember where I saw this sword! I -hic- fought a celestial and when I won, she gave -hic- me some land in Heaven for a while, then -hic- I moved back to the Hakurei Shrine."

"You…fought a celestial…and got land in Heaven?" The whole thing sounded like an alcoholic delusion to Meiling, when suddenly something hit her. Just earlier that day, she had gone to see the Yama about Flandre and Judas, and remembered what had happened to Flandre.

_ "As for Flandre, I literally just now sent her to Heaven a few seconds ago. Don't worry, she's in a better place."_

"Suika," Meiling asked, now wanting to believe this story as much as she could believe anything. "How did you get to Heaven exactly? Which way is it?"

Suika pointed above her, and said "You need to go up." She meant to help, but sounded as though she had no idea exactly what Meiling meant, probably because she was too drunk to figure it out. "Like, wayyy up until you passed the clouds."

"I know that. Can you lead the way to Heaven for me then?"

"No."

"Why not?"

"Because I forgot how to get there. And I'm kinda -hic- lost."

Meiling wasn't sure whether she should laugh or be angry or be sad, any of which were to be directed at Suika. In the end, she wound up doing all three; laughing that Suika was lost, being angry that she forgot how to reach Heaven, and feeling sad that this meant that reaching Heaven (and thus seeing Flandre) would be much _much_ harder. "Then how about we just do what we were doing earlier?"

"Sure…-hic- what were we doing?"

"Traveling."

"Alright, that sounds fun. Let's go!" Suika triumphantly took the lead. She had no idea where they were going, but as long as traveling was exploring and exploring was traveling, she was fine with getting lost. It would add to the fun to try and get out later, and - "Hey, look at the sunset! It's so beautiful!" Even through the trees, the two were able to see the sunset and all the colors in it. Suika ran her finger along the red parts, saying "See all the red?"

Meiling looked beneath it, and said "And orange is right beneath it."

Suika took a second to process that. Had she been sober (fat chance of that!) she would have gotten different results, but the alcohol in her brain was making her think perverted thoughts. _Red on top of orange…wait a second!_ Just to make sure she wasn't wrong, Suika grabbed a lock of her hair and looked at it. Then she looked at Meiling's hair. _Red on top of orange…so that means…_ Suika's cheeks turned the same color as the Chinese youkai's hair about the conclusions she came up with. _Wait…hey, our eyes match our hair!_ Suika quickly turned to Meiling and tackled her, afterward flipping the duo over so that their hairs looked like the sunset they were looking at.

"Suika," Meiling said, partly surprised and partially shocked. "What are you doing?"

"Making a sunset!"

"Making a…?" _Wait a minute…she couldn't have possibly thought I meant…_ Meiling's entire face turned the same shade of red as Suika's cheeks at the conclusions that the youkai came to, and Meiling could barely stammer out her next question. "Ehrm…S-Suika?"

"Ya?"

"Well, shouldn't we be…y-you know, trying to figure out what we're going to do when the night comes along?"

The oni took a second to process the question, then her face joined Meiling's in a chorus of reds. "I had no idea you felt that way."

"Wait, what!" Now more than just Meiling's face was red. Every inch of her body was blushing, as she said "N-No, I swear it isn't like that! I meant stuff like 'where will we sleep' and 'what are we going to eat' and stuff, not…that."

"Oh?" Suika laughed, long and hard. The oni rolled off her friend in hysterical laughter, having to grip her chest to keep her insides from becoming her outsides from laughing too hard. "Ha-ha-ha! I thought you meant sex! A-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA!" Suika was actually crying from laughing so hard, and if she didn't know better she could've sworn she'd pissed herself just a bit because of it too. _Wait, DO I know better? …Yeah, I do._

Meiling couldn't even face Suika after their misunderstanding. "Y-Yeah." As the oni made a desperate and failing attempt to at least slow her laughter down before she hurt herself, Meiling began trying to figure out what completely non-sexual plans the two could make for the night.

* * *

><p><strong>Any SWR fans probably know exactly what I'm up to right now. And NO, it isn't a sex scene between Meiling and Suika, Azure! Anyway, to anybody who was wondering if the two would ever get together (as Azure asked in his review for Chapter 2) use your imagination. Suika and Meiling traveling the world to see what hasn't been seen, abandoning everything else? Sounds like obvious pairing to me. To me it's kinda funny cuz they're the two physically strongest Touhou characters of all, and Meiling has (in all the fanart I've seen of her) big breasts and she's tall; Suika is short and flat! As you're reading this author's note, Chapter 12 is already in progress, though I don't know what's exactly going to happen yet; I'm sorta winging it until the deadly duo reaches Youkai Mountain. Expect a game of fetch when the two meet Momiji though~<strong>

**I stoled Azure's thing XD**


	12. Chapter 12: Champions of the Night

**I've learned a lot of things today, but most important is that putting some Nutella (chocolatey hazelnut spread if they don't have Nutella where you live) goes great on toasted whole grain bread. Wait, didn't I already upload a chapter today? If I did that means that I'm either on a roll or I'm declining gradually…I'm gonna go with the first one, but now that there's no definite plot I have no deadlines or criteria to meet like in The Fallen House (my Hellsing fanfic) where I need to…I better keep my mouth shut about that! Anyway, without further ado…or maybe a bit of ado, I give you the twelfth chapter of my greatest literary work yet!**

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><p>The sunset was gone, and Suika's laughter went with it. That, however, was mostly because she ran out of air to laugh with and nearly killed herself laughing. Common knowledge dictated that it was dangerous in the woods at night because of youkai and particularly aggressive fairies, but Meiling and Suika were two of the most physically powerful residents of Gensokyo, so it wouldn't be too big of a deal. Together, the two managed to set up a tent with random objects they found (mostly sticks and leaves) and while it was far from luxurious, it was shelter for the night so it would have to do. Meiling knew that Suika had been in the forest plenty by sheer intuition. Oni were youkai too, so of course she knew at least some things about this forest…right?<p>

"So," Suika said, about to crush any hope Meiling had about the oni knowing anything at all about this forest. "Have -hic you got any idea where we are?" Now that it was night, the oni was starting to sober up so she could sleep and avoid the extremely erratic dreams she'd been having recently.

Yep, crushed. "N-No. Not at all, I'm as lost as you. I'm just using Youkai Mountain as a landmark, since that's where we're going." She liked what she was planning, but the fact that Suika at least claimed to have lived in Heaven kept gnawing on the back of Meiling's mind. She wanted to go there, but neither her nor the oni knew how to get there.

"Well, worst case scenario we reach the top and figure out what to do next. Best case scenario Yukari sends us there."

"But then that defeats the purpose of us _traveling_ there _by foot_."

"Oh yeah." The sword that nearly killed Suika earlier was lying faithfully by the oni's side like it was now her second-most prized possession, bested only by the gourd that was attached to Suika by a chain at all times; even in her sleep. The oni rolled over to face the leafy wall of the duo's makeshift tent, and said "Good night, Meiling."

"Sweet dreams, Suika." As Meiling slowly slipped into her sleep, she began analyzing her day and thinking about if it was a good day or a bad one. _Early in the morning I got up to see the Yama about Judas and Flandre, and she told me that Judas is in Hell being tortured by rusty serrated blades and Flandre is in Heaven. After that I offered Suika to go on this adventure and she agreed. We had a bit of fun along the way, not the least of which was that horrible misunderstanding at sunset, and now we're here. Tomorrow we'll continue our adventure and-_

BUMP

Meiling got up out of her spot in the "tent" to look around. "Suika, did you hear that?" No good, the drunkard was already out like a light. That meant she was on her own.

BUMP

_What the hell is that?_ Meiling slowly crept out of the tent and grabbed the sword on her way out. Whatever would try to attack her or Suika would have to answer to Hong Meiling, gatekeeper of a tent of leaves and sticks! She could surely defeat any enemy!

BUMP

Whatever was coming, it sounded big. More than big, like gigantic. Well, the saying did go "the bigger they are, the harder they fall" so all Meiling had to do was trip up her enemy, right?

BUMP

Suika turned over in her sleep, and mumbled "Marisa, turn your damn vibrator off. I can hear the two of you all the way from my pirate ship." Once morning came around and she realized being sober didn't help with her strange dreams, Suika would probably start simply knocking herself out with sake again.

BUMP

That last one roused the oni from her sleep with an "I found the buried treasure!" Then she looked at her surroundings. Same tent that the two built out of sticks and leaves, no pirates trying to sink her ship commandeered by herself and various mini-Suikas, and sadly there was no treasure chests anywhere nearby. To make matters worse, Suika still lacked a chest as well. Yawning loudly, Suika asked "Meiling, what time is it?"

"No idea, but someone or…something, is out there. I'm not sure what it is, but it sounds really big."

Suika was already gorging down her sake now that she was awake, and took a look around. "I bet -hic- I can find it!"  
>"Are you drunk already?"<p>

"Mayyybe." Suika had done this before, so surely she could do it again. Dispersing herself into mist was easy business for an oni who could control density, and it vastly improved her field of vision. Surely, whatever was bugging the duo, she could find it like this. Before long, the mist that was a drunken oni covered the entire forest, and Suika looked for anything that could be big enough to be what was making those noises. Sadly, she found no such thing, so quickly gathered herself back into a much more comfortable form that was able to drink more sake. "Couldn't -hic- find it."

"Then what the hell is it?" Then everything around the two went dark. Not that it wasn't already dark out, but it was as if somebody removed their eyesight and let them keep every other sense in their body. This got Meiling ready to use her sword at any second, even if she couldn't see her assailant. But she had to be careful, or she might slice Suika.

BUMP

BUMP

BUMP

"Show yourself, you damn coward," Meiling yelled, waking up more than a few fairies nearby in the process. The barrier of darkness around the two was partially lifted, but only enough for them to see their immediate surroundings. They were only able to see ten feet around them, but at least whatever it was, it was listening. "Alright, now where are you?"

"I am everywhere," said…whatever it was. It sounded like not one voice, but five speaking in unison. The different voices were certainly coming from all directions, but that meant that unless they were surrounded, it was simply a trick. "And I am the goddess of this forest. You two have angered me, and now I shall-"

"Wait -hic- a minute, what did we ever do?" Suika had no idea that her obvious question was actually such a great one. "We did nothing, right?"

For a few seconds, they heard nothing. However, when the duo of youkai and oni listened closely they could hear the multitude of voices whispering things, supposedly to itself given the conversation.

"…do?"

"I don't know."

"…to the…"

"This…idea. It was…until…"

"…that so?"

"Yes."

"So…to them?"

"Yeah!"

The five voices once again spoke in unison, saying "It doesn't matter what you did, you made me angry! As long as you reside in this forest, you are under my spell and I won't let you leave just like that!"

Meiling wasn't convinced. Suika on the other hand, was. "O -hic- kay, what do we do? We're trying to -hic- get to Youkai Mountain, so -hic- let's do what we gotta do."

More silence. This time, the voices were speaking a bit louder, enough that they could catch the entire conversation.

"This girl is actually falling for it!"

"I knew it was a good idea! You should be thanking me."

"Yeah right, we all know _I_ was the mastermind behind this plan!"

"Is that so?"

"Okay, maybe not. But what do we do? Oh, I got it! We'll make her fight us one at a time."

"Alright, what do we say?"

"To proceed, you must defeat our five greatest champions!"

"You've got it."

The five voices cleared their throats, and said "To proceed, you must defeat our five greatest champions!"

"Okay," Suika said. "I'll -hic- fight 'em all at once! Bring it on, forest -hic- champions!" Suika raised her fists, ready to knock out five sets of lights all at once. She couldn't even see Meiling's red face, mostly because the youkai had gone back to the tent to try and sleep while five possible idiots tried to duke it out with Suika. The curtain of darkness lifted to reveal a quintet of three youkai and two fairies, one such fairy being that ice fairy they freed. Then Suika began to assess her other foes. The one directly in front of them wore a black dress, and had blonde hair and red eyes, as well as a matching ribbon in her hair. Oddly though, her arms were stretched out. The next one to the right was the ice fairy, but after her was another fairy in a blue dress. This one had green hair that went out in a ponytail on the left side of her head, and she had the same blue eyes as her companion.

When Suika turned to look at the other two, she found two youkai who looked they were very friendly but still had some tension between them. The first one had green hair and wore a black shirt and white pants, and also had antennae sticking out of their head. Suika pointed at the insect youkai, and asked "Is he a boy?"

The bug flushed at that, and said "Of course not!"

"Oh, okay." Then she turned to her last opponent. She had pink hair, and wore mostly brown. On her hat were a pair of sparrow wings, and her back had a similar pair of wings that seemed to actually be functional unlike the accessories to her hat. "Why doesn't the bird eat the bug?"

"What are you talking about," the bird and bug said in unison. "That'd never happen!"

Then the bird looked straight at the insect next to her, studying her friend. "Actually…I never had a firefly before. I wonder if _I'd _glow by eating Wriggle?"

"Whoa, Mystia, calm down! I'm your friend, not a snack!"

"Delicious treat!" Wriggle quickly buzzed off as Mystia gave frantic chase, much like a real bird of prey would.

The remaining three watched the duo fly off. Then the girl in the black dress said "Should I get them, Cirno?"

"Go for it, Rumia."

Rumia smiled, and flew off as well. "Mystia," Rumia yelled. "I am going to eat you!"

Now the green-haired fairy was panicking. She didn't want her friends eating each other, and on pure impulse flew off to try and stop them from making snacks out of each other, effectively leaving Cirno all alone.

"Wha…wait a second! How did you do that!"

"-hic-…do what?"

"Why you…I'm going to freeze you so bad it'll take _years_ to thaw out!" Cirno felt genuinely insulted, and said "You're fighting Cirno, the strongest in all of Gensokyo! Nobody will ever defeat me as long as there's even a bit of ice left in this world or any other!"

"I can take a fairy," Suika confidently said. Then she reached for her gourd to take some more sake, but a blast of cold air hit the gourd before Suika could reach it, and the priceless treasure was frozen in solid ice. "You…-hic- froze…my sake." She wasn't sure if she was sad or furious right now, but she was one of them. It just dangled there like a big block of ice attached to a chain attached to Suika.

* * *

><p><strong>D'awww, poor Suika. Don't worry, it should "thaw out" by the end of next chapter or the one after, but there's actually elements from some of my favorite fanfics in this one. Cutting off Suika's gourd was an idea from the fanfic Functioning Alcoholic (also my #1 favorite fanfic of all time) and the personality of Daiyousei (though she had no lines at all and suddenly flew off before she could do anything, but she'll be back…) is sorta modeled from how she was depicted in Imperfect Metamorphosis. As for Rumia trying to eat Mystia…let's just say a certain sport inspired that bit. All-out Team 9 chaos!<strong>


	13. Chapter 13: Bad Apple! Part 1

**This one took a while as you may notice. Remember last chapter when I said Daiyousei would be back later? I may or may not have been lying. This story has taken on a mind of its own at this point, and as a writer it's a beautiful thing when Meiling and Suika start telling me what to do instead of doing it myself. Or does that mean I'm slowly becoming a schizophrenic? Well, it doesn't sound all bad if I start hallucinating Touhou characters being real!**

* * *

><p>"Ha," Cirno taunted. "I told you, I'm the strongest in Gensokyo! I know what you're weakness is and I just used it by stopping your flow of sake! You're weakened!"<p>

"But I'm too strong to be weak. Oni -hic- are always strong, but now you made me mad. I'll show you the greatest power of all; the power to -hic- gather." First, though, she would have to get rid of that ice. Using her powers over density, she dispersed all the ice on her gourd, and gathered it to where Cirno was. Now she was regretting the decision of letting this fairy go, or at least helping Meiling come to that decision. As tiny shards of ice flew off her gourd and toward Cirno, Suika took down some more sake. Her powers made her undefeatable!

Cirno quickly got out of the way of the ice shards, saying "I'll make you regret that!" She intended to freeze both of these girls now to make her point clear that she most certainly was the strongest! She would turn them into solid blocks of ice so that they never thawed out ever again! By the time she was through with them- _POW!_

"See, Meiling," Suika slurred. "I told you I could take a fairy."

"Sounded like a bigger fight than one fairy."

Suika prodded the fairy's body with her finger to make sure she didn't kill the girl on accident, and when she was certain that she simply knocked the fairy unconscious, said "Well it doesn't matter because I won." At this moment, it was dark and Suika was tired, so she went back into the makeshift tent of leaves and sticks and laid down. "Good -hic- night, Meiling."

"Sweet dreams Suika." Knowing how the oni had a non-problematic drinking problem, Meiling expected her companion to have very unusual dreams. Of course, the way she woke up just earlier also helped her come to that conclusion. Meiling herself didn't dream often but when she did they were certainly enjoyable dreams, such as the time she fell asleep reading a manga and had dreams of fighting the Taisui Xingjun. She figured that if she were to have a dream tonight, it would probably be about ice…perhaps a winter resort?

When the sun rose, a red-haired youkai rose with it. Common knowledge said that nights were cold in winter, but Meiling was very resilient and resistant to just about everything because she trained her body so intensely. As for Suika, the sake in her gourd was warm like sake was, so having lots of it running through her system kept the oni warm as well. Youkai Mountain wasn't far now, and the two would probably reach the top by the end of tomorrow, possibly even the end of today if they really got moving. The sword that nearly killed Suika yesterday was still by the duo's side, and Meiling carried it as her and Suika looked around for anything else of interest during their trip. Surely they would come across something before they got to their destination, even if it was simply a funny-looking tree.

"Meiling," Suika asked. "Have you got any food?"

"No."

"Oh. Do you want some sake?"

"Thanks, but I need to think clearly for a while this morning. I have to figure out what we'll do for breakfast since neither of us have any food."

Suika wanted to help, so kept an extra close eye out for food. _Food has to be edible or else you can't eat it, so what around here is edible? Well, there's grass and leaves everywhere but those taste bad and are probably bad for you. I wonder if any trees around here have fruit on them? That'd be great!_ By her astoundingly hypocritical luck, Suika walked face-first into a tree while she was looking for something the two could eat for breakfast. At the pace she was moving and with her physical strength, however, it was more like running into a tree with a car. The drunk oni fell down and looked up at the branches of the tree above. "Hey," Suika said to Meiling, "I found -hic- an apple tree!" Then one of the apples fell off of the tree, down to Suika. "Ah, my eye!" The oni sat up and, while rubbing the eye that was just assaulted by fruit, looked at the apple from the tree. It looked good enough to eat, at least with her one uninjured eye, and was a breathtaking red. It was the reddest red that Suika had ever seen, and it seemed to glow a bit. This was clearly no normal apple!

Meiling climbed up the tree and pulled down five more apples, so that plus the first apple that hit Suika, they could each have three apples. That would be able to last them at least a few hours, and by that time they'd probably find some more food anyway. The Chinese youkai was oblivious to the glow of the apples, but still looked at them to make sure they were good. Once satisfied with her observation, she said "They look good, let's chow down."

"Wait! They're glowing."

"Glowing?" Meiling looked at the apples, and exclaimed "Wow, they _are_ glowing!" What did this mean. Were they magic apples? Or was it poisonous? Would the apples have adverse effects on the two if they ate them, or would everything be okay? Meiling tried to figure these questions out, but looked over at Suika hoping for answers. "Wait…where'd your apples go?"

"I ate 'em."

"Why would you go and do that? We don't know if they could kill us."

"I'm an oni, we take _lots_ of poison to kill. If nothing happens, it's all good and well and if something happens just don't eat any apples and we'll find more food later." The duo sat for a minute, waiting for something to happen. All they could hear was the rustling of the leaves in the light breeze and the chirping of birds. After a while of this waiting, Suika said "See, they're okay to eat."

"I guess they are." Meiling took a small bite of her apple first to make sure it was safe to eat, and once nothing happened to her with the first bite, began eating the rest of her first apple. Unlike her oni friend, Meiling intended to save her apples and eat them throughout the day instead of all at once. That way she had food for later if she got hungry. "Alright, let's keep going." As the two walked along, Meiling continued taking bites out of her apples, stopping when she had one full apple left. She was saving that one for later, and if both of them were hungry she'd probably split it with Suika. "Could I have some sake?"

Suika happily extended a hand holding a gourd, and said "Bottoms up, pal." The mountain wasn't far now. "I used to -hic- live around here, you know."

"Really?" Meiling took a sip of sake, unlike the mouthfuls at a time that Suika indulged herself in, and said "Is this the Heaven story again?"

"No, I'm talking about Former Hell. It's under Youkai Mountain and from there you just keep going down. I decided to come up here a few years -hic- ago and that was when everybody had no idea who I was except Yukari. But a lot of people really got to know me and now I feel like a mainstay here in Gensokyo. Sure, I may not -hic- be _the most popular_ person in Gensokyo but at least I'm me and enjoy it."

"Former Hell, huh?" Meiling had heard Patchouli talking about it from time to time but never really knew much other than its approximate location. She remembered that Patchouli had sent Marisa down there some time ago to investigate the sudden increase in evil spirits, but that was about it. So Suika had lived in Heaven and Hell, plus a few places in-between according to the oni herself. Interesting to say the least, but Meiling still had problems believing that Suika had lived in Heaven no matter how much she wanted to accept it as true. Meiling took a bite out of her third apple, and asked Suika "Why did you eat all your apples at once?"

"-hic- Why not? At the very worst, I get hungry soon. You don't mind giving me a piece of your apple, right?"

"Not much if you're willing to eat it."

"Great, because I'm hungry."

"You're just a bottomless pit, aren't you?" Meiling grabbed her apple, and pulled it roughly in half, giving the yet-unbitten half to Suika. "Enjoy." Now the luminous glow that Suika noticed earlier was really visible since the fruit was glowing from the center. The glow was a bright yellow, and had a kind of warmth to it, like sitting near a fire.

"Thanks." Suika took a bite out of her half of the apple, and suddenly the glow from both halves stopped. Suika stared into her fruit, and even shook it a bit as though it were broken. "That's weird." Then a sudden feeling of wooziness overcame both Suika and Meiling, as the two tried to continue onward toward the nearby Youkai Mountain. "I can't…-hic- feel my legs. My apples weren't poisoned so why did it have to be -hic- this one apple?"

"I dunno, Suika." Both of them were stumbling around like drunks (or in Suika's case, a double-drunk) and even bumped into each other a few times before finally collapsing on the ground. Meiling regretted eating that third apple, seemingly poisoned to knock the two out cold. By the time she finally lost consciousness, the youkai couldn't feel an inch of her body.

* * *

><p>But what must have been four of five hours later, Meiling did wake up. Although, she felt quite different. She felt a lot lighter than she used to be, and possibly stronger too. It also felt like there was something on her head. Her eyes were still closed, so she simply moved her hand up to feel what was on her head. It felt unlike most things she touched before, but if she had to guess it would have the approximate texture of a bone, albeit a lot smoother. Moving her hand upward to figure out what it was, she came to a tip. It was sharp, but not dangerously so. Was this a horn? Suddenly she came to realize she could feel one on the other side of her head too. When she did open her eyes and looked down at herself, the first thing she saw was a blouse with the sleeves torn off and a surprising lack of chesty-ness. Wait, this was Suika's blouse? But where did Meiling's chest vanish to!<p>

Looking over to where Suika would have been, the oni was no longer there. But when Meiling turned to look the other way, she saw herself. Same red hair, same green clothes, but that plus everything else she'd observed so far had to have meant…_Did I just switch bodies with Suika?_

The oni also arose from her sleep with the youkai and had the same self-inspection to find that she had lost her horns, grown at least a foot or two taller, developed a chest, and dyed her hair red. When Suika looked over at the Chinese youkai inhabiting her body, she jumped to her feet and said "You body snatcher!"

"Don't blame me," the oni now known as Meiling said. "Let's go over what we know before we start pointing fingers. You're in my body, and I'm in yours. What was the last thing we did before that happened?"

Suika reached down to her former body and detached the chain carrying her beloved gourd, taking down a mouthful of the sake. "We split that apple."

"That's it!" Meiling looked around for the halves of the apple, and when she found the no-longer glowing fruit, passed a half to Suika. "Chow down." Meiling took a bite out of her half at the same time as Suika, and the two stood in silence for a moment. Each second seemed to take hours as the Chinese youkai waited for the fruit-inflicted knock-out that would give her back her body.

"Nothing's happening." Suika downed more sake, beginning to feel the effects of the alcohol, and asked "So now what?"

"First off, slow down on the sake. That's _my_ body and my liver probably isn't as strong as yours, Suika. We need to find another one of those apples." The two were oblivious to the mountain they tried so hard to reach, even if it was right there next to them, and began looking at every tree in search for a glowing apple. But no matter how hard the two searched, they couldn't find any fruit like the ones they ate earlier that day.

Then a voice called out to the duo of body-swapped youkai and oni "Looking for something, Suika?"

The body of a red-haired youkai turned to look at who was calling her name. The girl was quite tall and was probably about the same height as Suika's new body. She had long blonde hair and red eyes. From her forehead protruded a single red horn with a yellow star on it. "Hey, Yuugi!"

Yuugi looked confused that this stranger was calling her name. "Suika, over here!"

"No, _I'm_ Suika!"

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><p><strong>Clever, eh? Get it, Bad Apple? Ironically, I not once listened to that song (neither ZUN's original version nor the remix) the entire time writing this chapter, but thank Azure for giving me the idea to bring Yuugi into the picture. I played a lot of SA to see how Yuugi acted but I couldn't clear the game (even on Easy I come close, but not quite there) because of those friggin Yuugi attacks knocking out two or three lives and then I come just a bit short of clearing the game. But I have one question: does Koishi really have a spell card that looks like a penis? Or did I just misunderstand that part?<strong>

**Last-second note: extremely important! After five grueling months and countless agonizingly close attempts, I have finally made a clear run of EoSD! I played the Extra Stage and on my first attempt made it to Flandre…but got killed by Laevatien. A few attempts later (most recently) I've made it to Kagome Kagome.**


	14. Chapter 14: Bad Apple! Part 2:Tengu Ahoy

**I did listen to Bad Apple while writing this, but the story was somewhere else entirely when I did. It's actually playing right now while I'm keying in this author's note, but it's getting close to the end sadly. This one took some thinking to write, and I recently acquired a canonically accurate map (at least, much more than any map YOU have (unless it's the same map)) of the whole of Gensokyo. However, little things (like where exactly the tengu live on Youkai Mountain (ya, I know, on the top above even the Moriya Shrine) are missing, including some PC-98 areas like the Lake of Blood, so I still get to use my imagination a bit! I also know the team's next destination, and it's gonna be one LOOONG trip, especially since they're gonna get lost on the way. (If you have the same map as me, you might be able to figure the next stop out (and no it's not Eientei) before I write the dialogue revealing it!)**

* * *

><p>Yuugi looked at the red-haired youkai, and said "But you're not Suika." Pointing to the <em>real<em> youkai inhabiting the body of her friend, she said "_That_ is Suika."

"No, we -hic- accidentally swapped bodies!"

"Really? How'd you do that?"

"We split this weird apple and passed out. We woke up and now I'm Chinese and Meiling is an oni."

"Meiling?"

"That's whose body I have right now. We need to find -hic- another one of those apples or find some other way to switch bodies back." At first, the idea of being in Meiling's body was a happy thought to Suika, but then she started thinking about it. Sure, she was taller and actually had breasts now, but there were more downsides than benefits. Meiling's liver was certainly not as strong as Suika's, and now she didn't have her powers over density. The body swap had to be reversed!

"I've heard of somebody who might be able to help. But she lives at the top of the mountain."

"We were -hic- just heading there, but I need my body back _now_!"

"Did you try finding another apple?"

"We're looking right now, can you help, Yuugi?"

"For my pal Suika, of course!" Yuugi began searching around with the other two, checking every branch on every tree. She brought down a multitude of different kinds of fruit, but none of them were apples, much less glowing apples. None of the fruit she brought down even glowed at all when inspected, but Yuugi didn't give up. Eventually she started splitting every fruit she found in half to see if there was a glowing inside. One fruit after another was ripped in half and then thrown away when they proved useless to the trio of oni and youkai, quickly forming two large piles of fruit halves that was inspected and taken away by numerous fairies. "I can't find it," Yuugi apologetically said. "Why not go back to the tree that had the apples in the first place?"

The flat-chested Meiling turned around and said "That's it! You're a genius…sorry, what was your name again?"

"I'm Yuugi, and I wanna guess that since you're in Suika's body and Suika is in yours, you would be Meiling?"

"You guess right." The youkai-oni ran back into the forest as fast as she could, retracing every step that her and Suika made to get back to that tree and get another apple. She had to get her body back; she didn't want to be short and flat forever!

Suika watched her body run off, and downed some more sake. "-hic- Interesting person, right?"

"You can say that again."

* * *

><p>"…And now I'm here, telling you the story of how I got here." The slightly eccentric snake youkai who was given the coveted (to her, at least) job of guarding the gates to the Scarlet Devil Mansion was at the Moriya Shrine, explaining the chain of events that brought her there. It would be a couple of weeks before she could get back to her job due to the circumstances that brought her here, but at least everybody was okay. Once again, the residents of the Scarlet Devil Mansion were scattered. Sakuya, Koakuma, and Patchouli stayed at the Hakurei Shrine, mostly thanks to the massive sum of yen Sakuya donated during her visit from the Judas incident, and Remilia was staying in Hakugyokurou for now. It confused Zabi as to why she chose to stay in the netherworld of all places, but it was the Lady's choice, not the snake's. "So do you think I could stay here for a couple of weeks?"<p>

The two goddesses were the ones making the choice here, not Sanae. Kanako and Suwako thought this over. "Well," Kanako said, "I _do_ love snakes."

"And we almost never have visitors," Suwako added. "So welcome to the Moriya Shrine!" To the frog goddess, company was company and company was rare. That made Zabi a welcome addition, even if only temporary, to the shrine. She might have even been able to help around the shrine while she was here. The goddesses stood up, Suwako's short stature seeming even shorter next to Kanako's tall body. This meant that now there was two goddesses…no, three because of Sanae, and a snake youkai were all living under a single roof. Suwako was comfortable sleeping underground and usually did, meaning that as of Zabi's moving in there was one spare futon remaining. "So, while you're here, think you could help around a bit?"

"O-Of course! What needs to be done around here?"

Suwako's perpetually beaming smile stuck on her face as she replied "Nothing yet. I mean, Sanae does most of the work around here so she'd probably be better to ask than either of us."

"But in the meantime," Kanako said. "Why not start settling in?"

Zabi nodded, and said "I was kind of hoping for the chance to do just that." The snake youkai respectfully bowed to the goddesses before beginning to really have a look around the grounds of the Moriya Shrine. Before today she was never in the presence of a god, much less two of them. She'd heard that Sanae, the resident shrine maiden, was a god as well. Did that mean she was living with three goddesses? Just the thought was more than a bit humbling to her as she considered it. Here she was, a mere youkai of not even 60 years of age, and she was living with not one, not two, but three goddesses.

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><p>"I found an apple," Meiling the oni called as she ran back to a very drunk pair of Suika and Yuugi. Meiling split the apple, handed half to Suika, and said "Eat."<p>

"But I already ate," Suika drunkenly moaned. "Can't I eat later?"

"No, just take one bite."

"Nooo, I'm stuffed. If I eat a bite of anything I'll pop."

"Eat or I'll force the apple half down your throat, Suika."

"Okay…one bite." Suika took a tiny bite out of her apple at the same time as Meiling took a sizable bite out of her half.

"Perfect," Meiling said as the glow began to vanish from the fruit. "Yuugi, we're going to fall asleep soon, could you bring us some distance up the mountain in the meantime?"

"Sure," the oni said cheerfully. "Mind if I ask what's sending you two up there?"

"An adventure. Suika and I plan on traveling…every corner of…zzz…" The apple knocked the duo out, and Yuugi simply looked her friend and the friend of her friend over.

"Yep," Yuugi said to herself. "Same ol' Suika." Lifting the two up wasn't at all difficult for an oni, especially Yuugi. While she moved closer to and eventually up the mountain, she began thinking about whether she should go with them or not. On one hand, it would be a lot of fun and she didn't leave Former Hell often. On the other, she only had one friend here as opposed to the many in Former Hell, plus she didn't come up here often. The thoughts continued to argue with each other in the oni's head as she carried the two up the mountain, intending to leave them about halfway up the mountain at Giant Toad's Pond. After that, the two would be on their own. If Yuugi did choose to go on an adventure, it would be her own adventure, not the same one as Suika and Meiling.

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><p>When Suika came to before Meiling, she quickly felt around on her head for her horns. Yep, they were there! <em>But now I'm flat again. I guess I could try gathering air into the shape of breasts, but I dunno how that would work out.<em> While her youkai friend was still sleeping, Suika took back her gourd and the chain it was attached to, re-attaching it to the oni herself. It felt great to have her body back and with it the undefeatable liver that all oni had, effectively allowing her to drink any amount of sake that she wanted without a care in the world. While she waited for Meiling to wake up next to this pond of water that was literally sparkling in the sunset, she downed mouthful after mouthful of sake. _Another sunset…more red on top of orange. _The thought of yesterday's misunderstanding was still almost enough to make Suika laugh by simply looking at the youkai who Suika had misinterpreted.

Not long after the oni woke up, Meiling arose as well. "Where are we," she groggily asked. "And is Yuugi still around?"

"I didn't see her when -hic- I woke up. But I guess we're on Youkai Mountain, at Giant Toad's -hic- Pond. That means we're about halfway there, so come on!" Suika pulled her friend to her feet and said "It's not much farther. The biggest issue here will be dodging -hic- the tengu on our way up, but oni are much stronger so even that shouldn't be _too big_ of a problem." The tengu were indeed more than a bit of trouble for people trying to climb the mountain, but getting past the kappa was always easy no matter who you were, as the kappa were always too busy experimenting on this or that to notice that you were going up the mountain anyway. Add that to the power of oni that Suika mentioned just now and climbing this mountain would be a cakewalk.

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><p>Aya was still guilt-ridden by what she'd done by letting Judas become a lich. The issue of the Bunbunmaru mentioning his transformation was cancelled by her, and all but one copy was burned. Aya was looking at that final surviving copy, still trying to get over what she'd done. If any of the other tengu learned that it was Aya herself who brought Judas to the Netherworld on that day, nobody would ever forgive her. Word would get out, and more than a few people who were involved with the Judas incident would probably be out for her head on a silver platter. The only mention of Judas that ever even got into the Bunbunmaru thanks to Aya's guilt was in the issue from the day after he was killed, and it wasn't even on the front page. "So much for breaking news," she said to herself. "I just can't really believe it."<p>

Bursting into her room came a white wolf tengu with a large sword and shield ready for battle. "Aya, there have been intruders spotted on the mountain."

"Sorry, Momiji, but I'm not feeling so hot today. You've got to deal with these ones without me."

"One of them is an oni, though!"

"Oh?" Aya stood up. There was only one oni who lived in Gensokyo, and Aya knew exactly who that was. The tengu knew quite a bit about nearly every resident of Gensokyo as a matter of fact, but that also meant they knew about the astounding power that the oni possessed. The crow tengu stood up, and said "That changes things. It's our job to keep people off this mountain and with Kanako as my witness that's just what we're going to do!"

Momiji smiled, and said "There's the Aya that works as a guard."

"Hm?"

"Oh, nothing, don't mind me." Momiji left the crow tengu to herself and ran through the buildings of the tengu city that rested at the peak of the mountain, ready to ward off these intruders no matter how difficult it was going to be for her! It was every intention she had to do her job and be the best at it, so that alone was her plan.

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><p><strong>I just realized how long my author's note at the beginning was. Wow, I had a lot to say this time, but I usually do and simply stop myself. I'm considering making an OC named Fujin Jounen (translates as Wind God Girl ;D) using a picture of Aya, but first I need to find out wtf I would do with that OC in the vast world that is my mind. Remember a chapter or two back when a _ was mentioned? That's still on in case you were wondering. Also, I censored it for the interests of those who dislike spoilers. Anyway, the next addition to the team might be _ or _ because they're both _. I'd better stop myself from continuing this author's note or I'll be continuing all night! See ya next time!<strong>

**Oh also, everybody give some applause to Azure for being my first (and only) officially unofficial beta reader! Maybe…just maybe…Azure! You and I should try to do a collaboration story sometime!**

**Your Touhou fandom knowledge + my map + your "unique" style + my OC collection + your knowledge of Touhou canon + my knowledge of the locations of Gensokyo = greatness! IT MUST BE DONE!**


	15. Chapter 15: Dogs Will be Dogs

**This was a fun chapter to write. This one seems more humor-centric than earlier chapters, but hey Suika's around so most things are funny. Still, I find this one funnier than the rest. But, I'm merely one more man giving fans of Touhou like yourselves stories like this to munch on. Wanna know how I thought of Poisonous Chinese Tea in the first place? Answer's at the bottom.**

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><p>Suika and Meiling had quenched their thirst while they were at Giant Toad's Pond, Meiling taking the water in preference to Suika's endless sake. The night was young, so if the two were exceptionally quick about climbing the mountain, they might've been able to reach the top before sunrise. All they would have to do was avoid the -<p>

"Hold it right there!"

All they _had_ to do _was _avoid the tengu. The pair turned around and looked at who demanded they stop. She had white hair with wolf ears, and a tail to match. She wore a white sleeveless shirt, and sleeves that matched her shirt were on her arms in a style similar to Reimu's. She wore a black skirt and carried an exceptionally large sword plus a shield, but the two in combination looked far too big to be used at the same time thanks to the sword.

"My name is Momiji Inubashiri and I'm one of the many tengu who guard this mountain. Leave this mountain now, and that includes you, oni."

"I'm -hic- offended," Suika said. "Me and my friend are just -hic- having an adventure, and oni used to own this mountain with tengu as our underlings."

"But that's not the case anymore. Now tengu and kappa co-own this mountain and keep out unwanted visitors. It happens that _some_ visitors are less wanted than others, and you're very high up on that list Suika. I don't know who your friend is, but simply going on an adventure isn't nearly good enough of a reason to intrude on a mountain that's no longer yours!'

"Please?"

"Do you really think begging is going to help you?"

"Pretty please?"

"Let the canines do the begging, oni." Momiji readied her sword and shield, and said "This is the last time I'll say it. Leave this mountain now or I'll _force _you away from here and chase you as far as Hell itself."

"What if -hic- I put a cherry on top?"

"Sorry, but I have to stop you now." Momiji made a run for the two, sword and shield in hand. This would be no danmaku fight; she'd grown tired of them after that shrine maiden came through here climbing the mountain. She wanted to get into the heat of the battle and see her enemies' faces as they bore witness to the astounding swordsmanship that belonged to Momiji Inubashiri…where were they! Had they ran away by her charging? It didn't seem likely, so Momiji kept searching around for her enemy. Looking behind trees, in bushes, even under rocks, until eventually she found them sprinting up the mountain. "Hey," she yelled. "You're going the wrong way!"

"No -hic- we're not," Suika yelled back. "We need to reach the top of -hic- the mountain!"

"Not while I'm on guard!" Momiji gave pursuit, the massive sword she carried not seeming to weigh her down in the least. Suika had some nerve, running up the mountain like that when Momiji explicitly told them they couldn't go any further. Not only that, her friend was also running up the mountain, but she was faster than either of them. That meant she would catch them. Nothing in the world would stop her from getting them!

While the two were running, Meiling had a very uncharacteristic stroke of clumsiness and tripped over a stick. She was completely unharmed and unless you didn't see her trip you would swear that she didn't, but she quickly got up to her feet. She hadn't really expected a white wolf tengu with a massive sword to be chasing the two up the mountain.

Suika, on the other hand, had a drunkenly formulated plan. The oni quickly grabbed the stick Meiling tripped over, and threw it as hard as she could, making sure to aim it so that Momiji would see it flying overhead. "Keep moving," she said casually.

"Why did you throw that stick?"

"Wolves are dogs."

"So?"

"How many dogs do you know that -hic- can resist a game of fetch?"

"Now that you mention it…I can't say I know any." However, aside from Sakuya metaphorically being Remilia's dog, Meiling didn't know any dogs at all. She would just have to trust Suika on this one.

Momiji watched the stick fly, and even turned around when it flew past her. _Must…resist…stick!_ But in the end, the white wolf tengu was defenseless against Suika's idiotically simple tactics, and sprinted off in the direction of the stick, tail wagging the whole way. It would probably be very shameful for another tengu to witness this, but at least her excuse was almost a good one. After all, how many dogs did any of them know that could resist a game of fetch? Dogs loved fetch, it was common sense, and Momiji was no exception. She kept running after the stick, going as far back as Giant Toad's Pond to get what she wanted.

Suika kept watching the tengu run off, and smiled. "I told you it'd work."

"You never said that."

"But I just did." Suika kept moving upward, toward the Moriya Shrine. She got there once on accident, so surely she could get there on purpose. Then Suika extended a hand to Meiling. "You want some sake? We're close, but we still have quite -hic- a bit of hiking left."

"Sure, why not?" Meiling took a few sips of the sake, enough to feel a buzz but not enough to really be drunk. Since Suika's brain was always drowned in alcohol, at least _one_ of them needed to keep their head clear in case something bad happened. Now that they ditched the guard tengu, it was only a matter of making it at least to the shrine near the top of the mountain. Once there, they could -

"I got the stick." Momiji held the stick out toward Meiling and Suika, with her tail still wagging. She had completely forgotten about the confrontation between herself and the duo now that sticks were being thrown as she continued to extend the hand holding the stick.

"Wow," Suika said. "Lemme see -hic- that." Suika took the stick and once again threw it, this time putting every ounce of strength she had behind it. Considering the height the duo was above the ground and how hard Suika threw the stick, she figured it would take at least a day for Momiji to find the stick and bring it back again. And just as she planned, Momiji ran off in pursuit of the stick again. Then Suika considered one thing she hadn't before. While she did throw the stick hard and far, Momiji was still a tengu so was it possible that she'd catch it sooner than Suika planned? No matter, they had to get to the Moriya Shrine by the end of tonight. "Let's keep going before -hic- that tengu shows up again."

"Good plan." Meiling led the way this time, easily scaling the mountain as though it were second nature to her. The mountain was a nice-looking one as far as mountains went. The trees were leafless thanks to the freshly started winter, but even still they looked rather nice. The Moriya Shrine would be nearby by now, since it'd been some time since they left Giant Toad's Pond. That meant that before long they could get to the shrine and get some rest for the night and set off upwards in the morning. Not only that, they might have been able to get the resident goddesses to tell the tengu to let the duo peacefully climb to make the rest of the climb easier by that much more. As soon as they reached the top, the two would figure out where to go next.

"I just remembered," Suika said out of the blue, though it was somewhat loud.

"Remembered what?"

"How to get to Heaven!"

"Really? How do we get there?"

"Once we reach the top of -hic- the mountain, we just go straight up. Since the peak of Youkai Mountain is near the clouds, you can reach Heaven -hic- from there."

"Should we side-stop there?"

"Sure! We need to return -hic- that sword, right?"

"I almost forgot about the sword." It still hung by Meiling's side, either waiting to be used or returned to its rightful owner who, according to Suika, lived in Heaven. It was almost convenient that their first stop would be so close to Heaven, and that this item supposedly from there needed to be returned as soon as possible. It was almost like fate was asking Meiling to check on Flandre up there to make sure everything was going well. _Fate, huh? I wonder if Remilia has anything to do with this? She put the mansion in Gensokyo with that power of hers, so maybe this was also meant to be thanks to her._ If that were the case, Meiling would have to be sure to thank Remilia next time the two met.

"Now -hic- then, see this waterfall? Tengu guard this waterfall and -hic- jump out at intruders like us, but since Momiji is supposedly chasing -hic- us we should be okay." Suika knew a lot about this mountain naturally, as she did used to live on it. Sure, those were nice days, but Former Hell was a lot more fun even if she couldn't find the right push to send her back. Granted her friends were mostly down there, but she liked the feeling of the sun against her skin. That feeling alone, to her at least, was enough reason to stay on the surface world. "This means -hic- we're almost there."

"Almost to the top of the mountain or the Moriya Shrine?"

"The second -hic- one." Suika pointed further up to the mountain to a Shinto gate; certainly the type that stood in front of shrines. If nothing else, that made their proximity to the shrine obvious. Just another five minutes of mountain climbing and they would be -

"Ayayayaya!"

They _would have _been there.

The crow tengu took her landing just in front of the two, creating a gust of wind upon her landing. "Where do you two think you're going?"

"The Moriya -hic- Shrine."

"Wait…how did you out-do Momiji?" Just as Aya asked this, the white wolf tengu came up to the same height as the crow and the duo, carrying the stick Suika threw in an attempt to get rid of her. "Playing fetch," she asked her subordinate. "Really?"

Momiji's tail stopped wagging when Aya asked that, and she regretfully said "Yes. How many dogs do you know that can resist a game of fetch?"

"None, but that's no excuse." Aya pouted, and said "You never play fetch with me."

"Wait, no it isn't that I don't like you! It's just that they had the stick and everything and you never have a stick or anything. Every dog knows that the _other person_ in fetch is supposed to bring the stick."

"So would you play fetch with me if I brought a stick?"

"I love fetch!"

"But first," Aya pointed back at the youkai and the oni, "I think we need to deal with these two intruders. Once we finish this up, we'll play a nice long game of fetch." Aya and Momiji versus Meiling and Suika. The odds at first looked against the tengu, but then the fact that they were very high up on a mountain was considered, plus Aya's ability to control the wind. That made this seem to be a cakewalk; all Aya had to do was blow the two off the mountain.

* * *

><p><strong>My method for starting a fanfic is to ask a question most people probably wouldn't ask themselves. For this one, the question was "What if a necromancer took Meiling's gatekeeper job?" For Spiral Sign (which I think I deleted from my computer on accident XD) it was "What if the Spiral Teleportation System sent some people to Gensokyo?" and for The Fallen House it's "What if there was another vampire just as powerful as Alucard who comes to London with the intention of killing him?" Maybe using my methods, you might be able to come up with something interesting too. I was thinking of making one based on the thesis of "What if Kogasa got her hands on some particular items and created the mother of all natural disasters?" but I dunno if I should. What do you think?<strong>


	16. Chapter 16: Of Dogs and Youkai

**This one appears to have taken a while. Maybe things just feel slow because I get a G.E.D. in a couple of weeks? (Please don't ask about the G.E.D. okay? I just wanna get the damn thing and get a freakin' job!) Or perhaps it IS slow because I'm getting distracted more easily? Anyway, in this chapter the duo becomes a trio! Unless I told you who the new addition will be you wouldn't think it was her until you read it in the story! Although, I kinda like the reasons behind it.**

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><p>Winter nights were cold, especially if you were cold-blooded and near the top of a mountain. Zabi was dressed very heavily while she was outside cleaning the grounds of the Moriya Shrine. Sanae had done it earlier, but the snake youkai was having trouble sleeping and figured that if she couldn't sleep, she could at least keep the shrine in the best shape possible. There was some bustle throughout the numerous tengu she saw pass by there over a pair of intruders, and one of them was supposedly an oni. That would certainly be fun to watch, but for now she had to focus on the work at hand. She could even hear the fighting going on not too far from the shrine. One voice sounded familiar, but Zabi couldn't put her finger on it.<p>

"Colorful Sign: Extreme Color Typhoon!"

The spell card _was_ something Zabi recognized. That was Meiling's spell card so either she was on this mountain or she got into some very deep trouble. Zabi herself only had one spell card and lost most danmaku battles because she got distracted by the colors of the danmaku, so she wouldn't even bother fighting for Meiling's sake, but she could still see what was going on. It was rather exciting, and Zabi still had Meiling's hat resting on her head from when the Chinese youkai gave the hat to her before setting out to do whatever it was she was planning to do.

Once the snake youkai arrived at the scene, she saw a tag-team danmaku battle, Meiling and an oni versus two tengu. Bullets were flying everywhere and Zabi couldn't even tell who fired what.

"Gathering Sign: Throwing Mt. Togakushi!"

"Whirlwind: Wind God Girl!"

Now there were even more bullets flying every which-way and Zabi was getting dizzy just watching. This meant only one thing: she would have to resolve this. "Snake Sign: Basilisk Venom!" In every direction from Zabi, purple and green bullets began firing away, the green ones following a snake-like pattern and the purple ones moving straight ahead slowly. It may not have been the most powerful spell card in the world but it would certainly catch the attention of all four of the girls firing danmaku at each other. And in the end, none of them could dodge _every_ bullet and the fight concluded with the highly unexpected "victory" of Zabi. Now that it was done with, the snake youkai approached this quartet, making a mental note on the way. _Make more spell cards! This danmaku thing is kind of fun!_ "Can somebody please explain to me what's going on here?"

Meiling turned to the snake youkai, and was more than a little surprised to see her here. "Zabi? What are you doing here? Why aren't you guarding the gates to the Scarlet Devil Mansion?"

"I've been forced to relocate for a bit. But enough about me, what the hell is going on between the four of you?"

Now the crow tengu answered the question. "There was an intruder report that a red-haired youkai and an oni were climbing the mountain, so Momiji and I were just trying to resolve this report before something bad happened."

"Meiling, why are you and the oni climbing the mountain?"

"Because," Suika slurred, "Meiling and me -hic- are going on a big adventure. Our first stop -hic- was the top of Youkai Mountain, but we can't make it by the end of the night so we're stopping at the Moriya -hic- Shrine."

"I'm staying at the Moriya Shrine for a bit, I'll bring you two up."

Aya was dumbfounded at this. Not only did they _not _stop the intruders, but they were defeated by a snake youkai who got this far up undetected and now that same intruder was giving these new intruders a hand! "But…I…but…did you say adventure?"

"-hic- Ya. Why?"

"Momiji, go with them."

Momiji looked shocked. "What? Why?"

"Because, if they're going on a big adventure, odds are they'll come across some interesting news, or at the very least find something worth making the Bunbunmaru. I'll tell the other tengu that you were kidnapped and that you can find your own way out so that nobody comes after you in the meantime."

"You must be crazy!"

"Isn't everybody?" To Aya's experience, everybody in Gensokyo was kind of nuts. She also knew that she herself wasn't an exception to that rule, but that didn't mean that Momiji had to stick around here and do nothing all day. Aya had to keep working on the Bunbunmaru so she couldn't do it, and since Momiji was her subordinate it was like the opportunity was meant to be. "You'll do great." Aya handed Momiji the camera that hung faithfully around the crow tengu's neck and started pushing Momiji up the mountain to follow the snake youkai and the duo of intruders. "And bring back something interesting!" With that she took off, bound for the top of Youkai Mountain where the tengu city lied.

Momiji was still pretty confused by all of this, but gave up on trying to resist these orders. When it came to her newspaper, nobody ever tried to argue with Aya because they knew that in the end they were just wasting their energy. So the white wolf tengu followed, having abandoned the stick from earlier during the danmaku battle. Besides, there would be plenty more sticks during the course of this adventure. At the very least, it would be an interesting adventure, so much so that no other tengu would be able to truthfully say they went on an adventure such as this. These two were strong for sure, but Momiji was also strong so she would be able to help them with whatever needed three people. "I don't think we really got acquainted. My name's Momiji, who are you three?"

The snake youkai turned her head, and said "I'm Zabi, pleased to meet you."

The red-haired youkai smiled warmly and said "Meiling."

"And -hic- I'm the one and only Suika Ibuki!" The oni extended an arm toward the tengu, and asked "Want some sake?"

Momiji shook her head, and said "Thanks but I don't drink alcohol. That stuff's like poison to your liver and most of the tengu I've seen get really bad when they're drunk. If everybody were drunk, Gensokyo would be one giant no-rules party/orgy followed by a worldwide apocalyptic hangover. That doesn't sound so fun to me."

"You're -hic- too uptight. You won't get in trouble for a bit of -hic- harmless sake drinking. Just have a little, and if -hic- you don't like it just say so."

"No thanks." Momiji was set on a no-alcohol policy. Somebody once told her that there were three kinds of drunks: fun drunks, mean drunks, and sick drunks. Suika was obviously a fun drunk but Momiji didn't want to drink and see if she was one of the other two. Since there was only a one-in-three chance that she was a fun drunk, Momiji preferred not to take her chance. "Just water for me. Served with a bowl of rice."

"Sake is made -hic- from rice."

"I know."

Meiling looked at the shrine ahead while the oni and tengu kept going back and forth about reasons to drink and not to drink, ignoring the argument waiting to happen. The biggest thing right now was that they were at the Moriya Shrine and that meant that if they got up early they would be in Heaven by the end of tomorrow. It was still a bit of a distance off, but even from here it looked amazing compared to the Hakurei Shrine. The grounds were certainly well-kept and all sorts of plants and rocks combined to make it look amazing beyond words. To make the grounds even more amazing, there was a lake next to the shrine. _This_ was a shrine! "It's amazing."

"You really think so," Zabi asked. "I was cleaning the grounds when I heard you fighting the tengu. At first I wasn't gonna bother but then I heard one of your spell cards get called out so I had to take a look."

"So how's the gatekeeper job been?"

"I've been doing great. Most people were surprised when they learned that you quit, but I've watched you for a long time, and with the way Sakuya treated you I can't really blame you. The same day you gave me the job a group of fairies tried to get in the mansion. None of them got in, and since then I've staved off a bunch of unwanted guests. The only person whose gotten past me is that black-white witch."

"That Marisa's a quick one. Maybe if you had some stronger spell cards?"

"That's what I was thinking. Right now I only have Basilisk Venom, but I want to make more during my spare time." Of course, Zabi wouldn't give herself spare time while she was staying at somebody else's home unless everything was exactly as it should have been. "But everybody's been treating me really kindly since I took the gatekeeper job."

Meiling smiled that her replacement of choice was doing so well for herself. Was this how a person felt when somebody of their choice did better than them at something? Meiling wasn't certain, but it was a great feeling regardless. "As long as you don't fall asleep on the job you should be fine."

"Thank you. I don't mean to brag, but I think I'm doing better than even you." She knew she was because she never fell asleep on the job, but she didn't want to sound like she was bragging. Even if she did know it, Zabi was a somewhat humble youkai. She didn't really want to be the best unless there were very few people who tried it; she just wanted to be good at the things she liked. "I'm going to run ahead. It's cold out here for me and it's warm in the shrine." Zabi ran ahead of the rest of the group, intending to get some sleep soon.

Meiling watched her run off, and her ears tuned back to the argument between Suika and Momiji over whether or not the tengu should have some sake. "Both of you stop," Meiling said. "We're here. We've gotta figure out what we're doing for the night."

"Making -hic- a sunset?"

"No. Not at all." Meiling was grateful that she wasn't facing the oni, as that question made her blush a bit. "I doubt they have room for everybody to have a futon of their own, so we've gotta figure out the details."

Once they were in the shrine and discussed everything with Suwako and Kanako, the two took into consideration the layout of the home behind the shrine. "Well," Suwako cheerfully said. "I like sleeping underground, so the second futon in Kanako's room is empty, but Zabi came in today and now she's sleeping there. Sanae has her own room and then we have a guest room even though we don't get many guests. There's only one futon, so I think the two of you can share one futon." Suwako pointed to Meiling and Suika, and nodded. "Dogs usually sleep on the floor, so it should be easy for Momiji, yes?"

"Yeah, I guess…" It didn't sound especially comfortable to Momiji, but at least it was better than the ground outside, or…under it. Suwako wasn't as well-known as Kanako, but everybody who knew the frog goddess knew how to summarize her. Suwako was an infinitely cheerful and zany goddess, but there was an evil undertone beneath everything else. Plus she wore a creepy hat.

"It's decided!" Suwako stepped out of the front door, and said "Good night everybody." Suwako closed the door and began digging into the ground, closing it up above her, effectively burying her alive. It was how she slept, which enforced her image as a strange goddess.

Meiling still wasn't certain about sharing a futon with Suika. Sure, the two got along well, and they were friends, but wasn't there an alternative? _I suppose I can…for this night only. I mean, last night her and I shared a leaf tent that was about the same size as a futon so how bad could it be?_ Meiling didn't want to think about it; she just wanted to wake up in the morning and reach Heaven to return the sword and see Flandre one more time. It pained her to think about it, but there was so much that she never had the chance to do.

* * *

><p><strong>I feel a bit sorry for Meiling right now. All she wants to do is see Flandre and all these tengu and stuff keep giving her trouble on the way up. Makes you wonder how Meiling Suika and Momiji will make it the rest of the way up without being spotted. I don't know myself, but Momiji's idea of Suwako is how I envision her. While I'm thinking about it, Touhou fans may or may not be aware that she controls the curse god Mishajushi. I hereby theorize that Mishajushi is the hat on her head! M.U.G.E.N. players should have flashbacks about now on the topic of fighting that hat for the first time…*shudder* so brutal. I wonder how things are looking up in Heaven right now? Also, will Tenshi join the party once the Sword of Scarlet Thought is returned? I DON'T KNOW!<strong>


	17. Chapter 17: From Beyond Gensokyo

**I give you the seventeenth chapter! Another OC of mine appears here and this one doesn't want to hurt Gensokyo at all. The idea for this sub-plot that will eventually lead to catastrophe just hit me all of a sudden after I watched Despicable Me (which is odd because the sub-plot and the movie have nothing to do with each other) and was like "I have to do it!" Also, it starts on a kind of funny note.**

* * *

><p>As the sun rose over the Moriya Shrine and peeked through the window, Hong Meiling was already in her day clothes and ready to leave. She had every intention of reaching Heaven by the end of the day and wasn't going to let any tengu slow her down this time. The youkai watched her oni friend roll off of the futon and slowly get up to her feet.<p>

"Don't speak," Suika groggily groaned. "I have a hangover."

"You if anybody would cure that with more sake, right?"

Suika put her hands over her ears, and said "Stop talking! It hurrrts." The oni stayed up after Meiling and eventually challenged herself to a drinking game in the middle of the night. This monster of a hangover was her prize for winning as well as her price for losing. "I need sake," she whined. The oni reached for her gourd, and took one large mouthful after another in rapid succession, gradually looking more and more like herself. "I'll be out there soon…you go eat or whatever."

"Okay, I'll-"

"Don't talk!"

Meiling laughed on the inside a fair bit. The mighty and powerful oni who got land in Heaven by winning a fight suffering a terrible hangover and being reduced to the level of a human drunkard. _No matter, she'll be herself soon enough. _Meiling knew that for a fact, as she had heard such stories about Suika in the past. So she went out to the front room of the shrine, where Momiji and the two goddesses were already awake, but Suwako had no food in front of her and sat on the porch instead of the table.

"Good morning," Momiji said. "Here, have some food. I made it myself." It was stew. Although, all the ingredients looked extremely fresh…too much so. "Suwako grew the ingredients with her powers, but she didn't want any."

"That's strange." Meiling took the bowl Momiji offered her, and had a seat opposite Momiji and to the left of Kanako. The youkai looked out at Suwako, and asked "So what exactly is Suwako doing out there?"

Kanako ate the last of her stew, and said "Waiting for breakfast."

"But there's food right here."

"Waiting for _her_ breakfast." Kanako looked out at the goddess with the trademarked hat, watching extremely closely around her for any movement.

Suwako was also looking intently around, searching for breakfast. Winter was annoying because of her preferred breakfast being…difficult to find. But eventually the frog goddess heard a buzzing noise, and her eyes quickly darted in the direction of the noise. What she saw was a single fly, simply minding its own business. Just as it flew past Suwako, the goddess's mouth opened and out flew a tongue that was longer than it looked, catching the fly. _Gotcha!_ The tongue went back to its owner, and Suwako swallowed the fly.

Meiling cringed at the sight of the goddess eating a fly, and said "That's creepy. Is that why people call her the frog goddess?"

"That's exactly why."

"What'd -hic- I miss?" Suika stepped up to the table, drunk and happy again. It was like this every morning for her; wake up with a bad hangover and drink her way out of it. Now that she was intoxicated, she looked at the third bowl of stew already prepared for her. "Wow, it looks -hic- tasty!"

"Thank you," Momiji said.

"So where's -hic- that snake youkai?"

"Zabi is with Sanae, they're going to the human village to do some shopping." Momiji finished her stew, and stood up. "When you two are ready to go, I'm also set."

"I'm just waiting on Suika," Meiling said. Today would be the day. Today she would see Flandre again. It would also be the day that she got to see Heaven itself, and if she could find a way to Hell she would go there as well to find and torture Judas. Even to this day, Meiling kept the necromancer in the back of her mind where all the unused thoughts went to keep the worst of her from boiling to the surface. She might have even been able to get Flandre out of Heaven and bring her along if she could find a way to do so, but she had doubts about doing that in particular. In the midst of all this deep thought, Meiling subconsciously began walking out of the shrine without even noticing, forcing an oni to quickly gulp down the rest of her breakfast and catch up to her and the tengu that joined the team.

Once Suika did catch up, she patted Meiling on the back to snap her out of whatever she was in, and asked Momiji "So, -hic- is there a way to get up to the top without the tengu finding us? Where is security -hic- the weakest?"

"Tengu security is strong on every side of the mountain, so we'd have to fly to avoid them. But if they find us that could be problematic since tengu can control wind; we'd be at their mercy."

"Can't -hic- you control wind? You're tengu."

"Not really." It was a big deal to Momiji, but she wasn't really that great at controlling the wind. Instead she was physically powerful like the two girls she was now adventuring with. That was how she carried her sword and shield like she did. Other tengu had weapons like Momiji's, but those weapons were specially made by the kappa and were hollow, whereas Momiji's sword was solid steel all the way through. "Let's just keep moving." It would be a bit more walking before they got into the real danger zone, so the trio walked to conserve energy.

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><p>At the Hakurei Shrine, Reimu and Sakuya sat down to eat breakfast as well. Today's breakfast was an assortment of Western-style breakfasts, all prepared by Sakuya. "So," the miko asked between bites of toast. "How do you think China and Suika are doing?"<p>

"I'd imagine they're doing well. Meiling looked very pleased with herself when she quit her job. Also, I'd like to thank you for allowing me and Patchouli to stay here for a couple of weeks. I know it was sudden, but that's more reason to thank you."

"I can't just throw you two out. Besides, the story behind it really made me have to sympathize with you. I can't count how many times my shrine's been destroyed, and there was that celestial a few years back who leveled it with a localized earthquake. Since the mansion was destroyed in a similar earthquake, I knew how you felt and couldn't deny you."

"I had a feeling it was something like that."

"Plus you gave me 10,000 yen a few weeks ago, that's over ten times the total donations I've ever gotten…ever!"

"I have to wonder though, do you think the celestial is behind the earthquake at the mansion?"

"I doubt it. The weather's been pretty normal if a bit warm for winter, but nothing that's worth being declared an incident that I need to investigate unless another earthquake hits."

* * *

><p>Shortly after the trio left the Moriya Shrine, they encountered a human. Once again, Momiji was baffled that somebody this high up the mountain wasn't found by the tengu's dedicated guards. The girl was rather small, being at about Flandre's height, and wore an azure cloak. She had blue eyes that reflected all that looked into them, and long blue-purple hair that was done in pigtails and reached her waist. She introduced herself as Venus Khrona, and was telling the trio the story of how a human with her unique gifts found her way into Gensokyo. "In my world, everybody had two powers that always worked hand-in-hand with each other. In my case, I can project my spirit to any point in time and jump from one timeline to another as long as I remain in the present. I've been jumping from one world to another for six years trying to stop an unstoppable force from devouring worlds. His next target is here, Gensokyo, the Land of Illusions. My world and countless others have been eaten by this…this thing, and currently Gensokyo is the strongest in magical power, meaning his next target is here."<p>

"How long would we have?" Meiling didn't believe this story at all, but didn't want to openly say that to this human who could jump across timelines and see the past and future. "Until this world-eater began eating Gensokyo?"

"The first thing that would happen is an unusual natural occurrence, like a large-scale earthquake or something of the like. After that we would see a black-purple aurora in the sky, and from there we'd have seven days until it arrived." Venus was many things, but crazy was _not_ one of them! It was all true, and aside from Gensokyo and Earth, there were very few worlds remaining. She had traversed countless universes, and met so many unique individuals only to see them all die a week later. "But if we can kill it, all the worlds it consumed will be returned to existence. But I can tell you don't believe me. Ask me anything, I'll prove that my powers _are_ real and that Gensokyo is in danger!"

"Alright," Momiji asked. "Who is my direct superior?"

Venus closed her eyes for a second, projecting her spirit to the past to see Momiji's initial joining of the ranks of the tengu guards. She could see everything, but nothing could perceive her existence at all. Standing next to Momiji was another tengu, this one with black crow wings and a camera hanging from her neck. Venus could hear the elderly tengu also up on the stand say the name she was looking for, and returned her spirit to the present. "Aya Shameimaru is your superior, Momiji."

"I trust her now."

"Thank you. Now then, do you two also believe me, because I saw in the future that one of you was the only one who could defeat it because you could use the world-eater's weakness against it."

Meiling didn't mind an adventure of three, but four sounded a bit crowded. Still, Momiji believed her and Suika was also quick to believe anything she was told. It would be rude of her to turn this human down now that 2/3 of the team believed her story. Not only that, but if this Venus girl really wasn't crazy, Gensokyo was in serious danger, but there was no black and purple aurora like Venus said there would be. If the girl was right, that meant they still had time. "I guess you can come along. I still don't entirely believe your story, but I can see that your powers are real and that you're genuinely concerned for Gensokyo's safety. We're flying up to Heaven, it's an ability you should've picked up on your way to Gensokyo."

"As a matter of fact," Venus said, lifting off. "I did pick it up."

A few minutes of flying passed by, and eventually Suika pointed to a cloud. "Right above there -hic- is Heaven!"

"Then let's go!" Meiling was excited. _I'm coming for you, Flandre. Just hang tight for a little longer, there's so much I wanted to do with you that I never got the chance to._ Meiling knew this very well, that when Flandre was alive that the gatekeeper was more than a friend. To Flandre, Meiling knew that she was also like a sister, and sometimes even a mother figure when Flandre needed one, like when she broke her first toy. That was why with the possible sole exception of Remilia, Meiling knew that nobody cared more than her. That was the entire reason they were going to Heaven anyway, the sword still hanging at Meiling's side was simply a secondary objective to her.

* * *

><p><strong>Makes you wonder if Venus actually IS crazy, yes? I'll say this, she most certainly is correct that an eater of worlds is after the lesbian land of Gensokyo, but it'll be a good 5-10 chapters before he arrives. Wait, that means it is quicker than the Judas arc, even though that took three days and this'd be a week. I guess OmNomNom (for now we'll call the world-eater OmNomNom so that his epic speech is epic-er) is rushing himself to get there. Also, I signed up for FictionPress and in a couple days, the first chapter of my first original work will be up! I'll say this since you all know the name, it hails the return of Judas into my works! Would that mean that this became a crossover between Touhou and X4 (my work)?<strong>

**Also, thank you Azure for giving me confidence in this chapter.**


	18. Chapter 18: Herald of Destruction

**Did I already mention OmNomNom? Alright, his name gets revealed at the end of this chapter, as well as why Venus was looking for Meiling specifically. I was kinda doubtful about the beginning of this one but it quickly became something that moves me closer to my next pre-planned event. And you know that when I plan something, somebody gets broken inside, right? Last event I planned was Flandre's death at the hands of Judas. This next one I'm keeping my mouth shut, but the aftermath of that event is already written and saved.**

* * *

><p>None of them could believe their eyes. Was this paradise? They were certainly in Heaven, but this could not have been paradise any longer. It looked more like Blazing Hell than Heaven, and anything that wasn't demolished was on fire and about to crumble to ash. Once in a while, the four travelers came across a fleeing celestial, but none of them were able to tell the group who did all of this. Meiling had a gut feeling who it was, though. She just hoped that she was wrong.<p>

Off in the distance, they found who they were looking for. Same red dress, pink hat, blonde hair, and those same distinct wings of metal. And given that they saw her destroying a building, Meiling was unfortunately right. Somebody must have played with Flandre and gotten a bit rough, bringing out the…less stable side of Flandre. Meiling almost wanted to run, and Venus did run forcing Momiji to go after the human, but the Chinese youkai and the oni stood their ground. They'd have to stop Flandre from completely obliterating Heaven _somehow_, but neither of them had a clue as to how that would be done. "So," Meiling asked the oni. "Any ideas?"

"I wonder -hic- how you and her got along now."

"Long story, but we've got to stop her or else Heaven will be turned to nothing." Meiling did have one simple idea, but it was a bit of a gamble. If this worked, she would save Heaven from total destruction and have Flandre right there with her. If it failed, she would get killed as well as Suika…well, she'd just be sent right back to Heaven, right? The former gatekeeper inhaled as deeply as she could, and once her body could no longer take in any air, she called out at the top of her lungs "Flandre!" After a few brief seconds of nothing happening, Flandre turned her head to the two with that same demonic look on her face. It scared Meiling, but she quickly started feeling warm and fuzzy inside when that look turned into the child that Meiling knew and loved. Then with open arms, Flandre began flying toward Meiling.

"Meiliiiiiiiing!"

Last time Flandre flew at Meiling like this, the youkai didn't see her coming and Flandre was smiling. This time, she could see her coming, but…was she crying? Yes. When Flandre landed, she buried her head in Meiling's chest, crying out loud about something Meiling couldn't comprehend because of her breasts muffling the vampire's voice. "Flandre," Meiling asked as she pulled the vampire's head out of her chest. "What's the matter?"

"-sniff- You're here."

"Yes, yes I'm here. But then why are you crying?"

"If you're here that means you died!" The vampire went back to where her head previously was, proving that despite her age, she really was still a child.

Meiling thought about it for a second. "No, Flandre, I'm not dead I promise." Meiling got down to her knees to be level with Flandre, and pulled the vampire's head from her chest and then the tiny hands from a matching face. "I swear that I'm not dead, okay?"

"But if you didn't die, then -sniff- why are you here?"

"I was going on a big adventure. I was going to go to the top of Youkai Mountain, then Suika said that from there we could get to Heaven. I just wanted to come up and see you again, that's all."

"Pinky promise?" Flandre held out one small hand, the only finger out being her pinky. "Please?"

Meiling tied her own pinky in with Flandre's, and said "Pinky promise. I'm alive and well and so are my friends. The guy who killed you is dead and rotting away in Hell forever, I swear it."

"Okay." Flandre hugged Meiling tightly, happy to see her again. She'd been missing her friend since she died, but she knew that she was unable to leave Heaven. The vampire was oblivious to the ruin around her, and a number of celestials that were watching in awe as this one red-haired youkai was able to tame the monster who nearly destroyed Heaven entirely. Flandre didn't care as long as she had Meiling back.

After some more promises were made, Meiling was carrying Flandre around on her shoulders. There was so much that she never had the chance to do, but she also knew that a lot of those things could never happen any longer. Meiling had wanted to be there on the day that Flandre was finally allowed out of the basement, but the only reason she was allowed out last time was because it was for her own safety. Why did such terrible things always have to happen to the people who deserved it the least? The vampire on Meiling's shoulders was only a child, even if she was older than any human could possibly live, and older than a few well-known youkai as well. "So Flandre, do you have any friends?"

"I have one friend, and she loves me!"

"Really? What's her name?"

"She's Tenshi Hina…Hina…"

"Tenshi -hic- Hinanawi?"

"Yeah!" Flandre smiled down at the oni, and asked "Do you also know her?"

"I beat her at a fight once and -hic- she gave me land in Heaven because of it." The oni put her hands on her hips boastingly, proving the power of the oni. "She may -hic- have told you about it."

"No…she never even mentioned an oni."

"Whaaat?" Suika couldn't believe it! She thought that her and the celestial were buds! "Why, as soon as -hic- I find that Tenshi, I'm gonna-"

"Punish me for it?" Tenshi smiled at the quintet of various races, and said "I'm Tenshi Hinanawi, are you just visiting?"

"Why didn't you tell -hic- this vampire that you gave me land up here?"

"I didn't think it was worth mentioning."

"Why, you…I demand a second fight!"

Tenshi's eyes narrowed, and she asked "Same bet as last time?"

"Yes! If I win, you give Flandre her own land, and -hic- if I win we leave!"

"Don't you mean if _I_ win you leave?"

"Yeah!"

"Bring it on, oni." Tenshi grabbed the oni by the horns, and began dragging her away. She wouldn't bother to mention that she was the one who triggered the chain of events that nearly led to the destruction of Heaven.

Meiling and Flandre chuckled at the oni and the celestial, and the Chinese youkai asked "So Tenshi is your friend?"

"Yes." Flandre was clearly happy to have her as a friend given the expression on her face. "We play tag with our swords! I was it and she had to run, and then I tagged her with Laevatien. She looked really happy that I tagged her, and then we remembered she lost her sword."

"Oh, is this it?" Meiling held up the sword that she once again forgot about.

"Yeah, where did you find it?"

"It fell from the sky on our way here, and it nearly killed Suika."

Flandre laughed, and grabbed the sword. "It's a pretty weapon, but mine is bigger. Tenshi, catch!" Flandre threw the sword over to the fighting duo, and quickly diverted her attention back to Meiling. "Are you staying?"

"I'd love to, but we've gotta go later today."

"Aw, stay…please? With lotsa sugar on top?"

"How could I ever say no to you?"

"Yay!"

"But I _really _do have to leave later. But we'll play all sorts of games while I'm still here, okay?"

"Sure, what kind of games did you have in mind, Meiling?"

"I dunno. I'm kinda knocked out from climbing that mountain to get here."

"Alright. Since you can't think of any games to play, how about I throw some ideas around?"

"Sure. What kind of games did you have in mind?"

"Well…"

* * *

><p>Something was up, Reimu could just feel it. She was inside at the moment, but had a feeling of where to look already. Once she stepped outside, all of her answers were right there. She had no idea what it was, but given the colors of it this may have all been a joke from Yukari. Black and purple lights danced in the sky just like an aurora would. "That looks ominous."<p>

Yukari gapped herself to Reimu, and asked "What looks ominous?"

"Well, you're up early. Look behind you."

"What's behind me?" Yukari turned around and saw the same black-purple aurora. "Oh my, that _does_ look ominous. You wouldn't know where it came from, would you?"

"I was going to ask you the same."

"I've never seen anything like it."

"Do you know of anybody who might know where it came from? Anybody at all?"

"Can't say that I do, Reimu. Sorry to disappoint, but I need to continue my search for Chen. Three weeks and we still can't find her." Yukari gapped out of the shrine. Her shikigami was completely useless with worry ever since Chen went missing, and Yukari had to do everything herself while Ran chewed at her nails in worry for the shikigami of Yukari's shikigami.

* * *

><p>Meiling and Flandre were playing tag, <em>without <em>weapons. It was fun, but it was very difficult for Meiling who was running out of energy to outrun the endless supply of energy that fueled Flandre Scarlet. Meiling did catch the vampire, and said "You're it!"

Venus stepped between the two before they could continue, and pointed below Heaven. "Meiling, we have a problem." She saw it, the sign that the devourer of worlds was coming to Gensokyo. There was no way to stop him until he arrived since he constantly moved in the abyss that rested between worlds, but they still had a week to strategize…right? "Once it arrives, we have to kill it before it eats Gensokyo whole."

"Why not just kill it before it gets here?"

"That's impossible, he resides between worlds. That aurora has something in it…his herald for lack of better words."

"Then why not kill the herald?"

"No good, the aurora would still be there and that's the signal that guides him to each world he consumes. The problem is that whatever this consumer eats, those powers become its own."

"We're always calling this thing 'it' time and again. Can you at least tell us its name?"

"It's a name I don't ever say. Just this once, since you're the only one who can defeat him, I'll say his name. This consumer of worlds…"

"Yes?"

"His name…"

"Out with it already!"

"His name is Orci Mundis. And once he is here, we'll only have one shot to save this world, and all others."

Meiling looked at Venus, and asked "I'm the only one who can do it?"

"I'm afraid there's only one way to kill him, and you're best suited for it."

The youkai looked at this human, and sarcastically said "Because _that's_ not a ton of pressure for one person to handle or anything."

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><p><strong>Alright, since Venus is telling Meiling this between chapters I'm gonna write it here. The only way to truly kill Orci Mundis is to destroy his heart, meaning you have to go into the belly of the beast. Meiling is strong and durable so she can do this. Orci eats worlds to absorb their life energy into his heart and become more powerful, but what happens if you put too much air in a balloon? POP! Meiling will have to go into Orci Mundis and overload his heart with chi energy before Gensokyo is swallowed whole or she is assimilated into his being. Should she fail, existence is done for…no pressure or anything.<strong>


	19. Chapter 19: Taming the Beast

**This one can be a bit confusing. It's a three-part chapter, the third part keeps changing location, and it's altogether messier than my other chapters. But I did write it faster than I write most chapters. Not only that, I tie a villain into this one. You should be able to figure out who it is once it goes to their location before the name is given out, so don't worry too much. Still, I wonder how Meiling will be able to defeat Orci Mundis?**

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><p><span>Day One: The Plan<span>

The aurora appeared yesterday, so the planning had to begin. According to Venus, they would have seven days starting on this day before Orci Mundis arrived, so there was plenty of time to figure out how to beat him.

"Now," Venus said, explaining the nature of this creature. "Orci Mundis is very large. The beast alone is larger than all of Gensokyo, and he'll eat this world the same way he does all others. He'll suck it all in like a black hole, meaning everybody besides Meiling will need a safe place to avoid being sucked in and devoured. Does anybody know of such a place?"

Suika raised a hand, and said "We could go -hic- to Former Hell! I have friends -hic- there who'd be happy to see me!"

"Alright, good. But Flandre can't leave Heaven so what do we do with her?"

"Smuggle her?"

"Okay. I don't approve of smuggling but for this purpose we'll make an exception. So we evacuate everybody to Former Hell while Meiling tries to-"

Meiling stood up and practically shouted "Tries to! Are you saying this might not work?"

"The chances of failure are extremely slim. I've already projected my spirit to the day of the battle, and believe me Meiling, Orci Mundis will not win."

"Okay. Continue."

"We evacuate everybody in Gensokyo to Former Hell while Meiling fights Orci Mundis. Meiling, do you know of anybody else who can use chi energy like you?"

"I'm afraid not."

"That's too bad. We'll start the evacuations the day after tomorrow, but for now we need to figure out where everybody lives."

"The Scarlet Devil Mansion is near the Misty Lake. We have a map of Gensokyo in this room, but as far as entire worlds go it isn't really large."

"Momiji, we'll need you specifically to evacuate the tengu. If any of us try it, according to you we'll be treated as intruders and chased off the mountain. Now, there is one problem I notice here."

"Okay?"

Venus pointed to the map behind her, specifically at the Bamboo Forest of the Lost. "How do we evacuate this forest without getting lost ourselves? We _need_ to do this quickly so simply waiting for a guide won't cut it. We'll only have four days to fit an entire world's population underground, but I want it done in two, okay?"

"I think Suika can use her mist powers."

The oni clapped, and said "Yeah! I'll get us -hic- out of there!"

Venus still looked skeptical. "I don't think that'll work specifically. We also face another issue with Flandre. We can only evacuate her at night, so we'll bring her down to Former Hell tomorrow night rather than during the evacuation."

"Wait," Meiling said. "Why not just send everybody to the human world?"

"That'd be a problem. I don't think humans there would take kindly to countless youkai and fairies suddenly appearing in their world and then vanishing just like that. It has to be Former Hell. Suika, do you think we can fit everybody there?"

"Um…actually -hic- I don't know. Former Hell is big and all, but Gensokyo is way bigger! Does anybody here know of any other evacuation places?"

Momiji raised a hand, and said "While we were at the Moriya Shrine, Sanae told me about a geyser center underground that held Hisou Tensoku. A place that big would be able to fit a lot of people, right? Not to mention that Hisou Tensoku itself is hollow."

"Hisou Tensoku -hic- was really big, so yeah. Reimu and I went to go see it once, and I couldn't believe how big it was!"

"Alright," Venus said. "Between Former Hell, Hisou Tensoku and the underground geyser center, we _might_ have enough space for everybody. The tough part is figuring out how to keep Orci Mundis from sucking those in as well."

"Have Suwako -hic- seal the entrances with earth?"

"Good idea. Still, winds as intense as Orci Mundis's inhaling often cause earthquakes and after a while, the ground itself gives in and is eaten. Meiling, you'll need to be fast about this."

Meiling grabbed Suika's gourd, and took down a mouthful of sake. This was too much stress to handle at once like this. "Sure."

* * *

><p><span>Day Two: The Preparation<span>

The sun was setting, and Suika stayed near Flandre so that the oni could bring the small vampire to Former Hell once it was night. The rest of the group was talking amongst themselves, making sure they had the evacuation points figured out. "Alright," Venus said, recapping one last time. "Meiling will evacuate the human village, Kourindou, and look for anybody in the Garden of the Sun and Nameless Hill, as well as anywhere else in that vicinity. Suika will evacuate the Hakurei Shrine, Mugenkan, and the Bamboo Forest of the Lost. I'm handling the evacuations at Misty Lake, the Forest of Magic, the Road of Reconsideration, and Muenzuka. Tenshi is responsible for taking care of the dead and the few living at the Road of Liminality and the Sanzu River, and Momiji is going to deal with all of Youkai Mountain." She wanted nothing to go wrong with this plan.

"You've got it," Momiji dutifully said. She never even thought something like this would happen, and she was already worrying. There _was_ that slim chance of failure. Not only that, but Youkai Mountain was huge and it would probably take a full day to evacuate the people there, and another day to search the forest surrounding it since no sunlight got in. A final note that crossed her mind was that a sky goddess was going to be evacuated underground as strange as it was.

"Suika," Meiling said. "Make sure Flandre gets underground as far down as you can get her. Don't hand her over to anybody besides me, okay?"

"-hic- Ay-aye sir!" Suika watched the sun intently, and as soon as it wasn't able to directly affect Flandre, the oni flew down from Heaven, straight for Former Hell. Flying down was always faster than flying up, and it took almost no time for Suika to reach the wind hole that marked the entrance, where again her drinking buddy was sitting around.

"Suika," Yuugi said cheerfully. "Good to see you again. Who's your friend?"

"This -hic- is Flandre, and me and Meiling plus some other people are evacuating Gensokyo to the underworld. We've gotta go tell -hic- everybody in Former Hell, okay?"

"Alright, let's get down to business! Afterwards, how about a little drinking game?"

"Sure!"

* * *

><p><span>Day Three: The Protective Measures<span>

Everybody had ran off to their destinations. Since it was closest, Meiling started at Kourindou with the man who ran the shop. "If you don't believe me," Meiling said, "I understand that, but would you rather gamble your life on it if I'm crazy or not?"

"Fine," Rinnosuke said. "I know my way around Gensokyo, so just tell me where to go."

"Former Hell. You should be able to find a big tunnel that leads under Youkai Mountain, you can't miss it. But since you're a man, I'd be a little careful…"

"Careful? Why?"

"Lots of drunken oni girls down there, I don't think they've seen a man in a long long time." Meiling ran out of the shop, not stealing anything unlike certain witch-resembling customers.

* * *

><p>Suika was lost, but at least she got everywhere else covered before coming to this forest. "Damn! Why'd I agree -hic- to such a bad job?"<p>

Then from behind, a voice said "You lost?" When the oni turned around, she looked at this girl. She wore a white shirt and red baggy pants with suspenders. Her hair was long and white, and the girl was smoking a cigarette. "I can help you out of here."

"But -hic- I'm evacuating the forest!"

"Evacuating? Does this have anything to do with that strange aurora in the sky?"

"Ya! I need to evacuate _everybody _to Former Hell or they'll get eaten by a monster that eats worlds!"

"They'll get eaten, huh?" _Maybe I should "accidentally" forget to mention Kaguya in this forest. But maybe I shouldn't…it's times like this when I ask myself "What would Keine do?" Well…I hate Kaguya, but I guess I'm sort of obliged to do this…_ "Alright, follow me. There's a mansion here, some Lunarians live there and I'm sure they'd want to know about this."

"Thanks!"

* * *

><p>"This isn't a joke, I've seen this monster with my own eyes!" Venus was trying to persuade one very annoying little fairy to come with her to Former Hell for the safety of both of them.<p>

"Please, I can take him! I'm the strongest in all of Gensokyo!" Cirno refused to go along with this. She wasn't going to let some human who wasn't too much bigger than herself boss her around and evacuate her to the underworld. She'd been there once and had to fight a crow youkai for her life. "You go without me!"  
>"Fine," Venus said. "I guess if you're the strongest, you can kill it <em>all by yourself<em>. Thank you, Ms. Heroine for saving Gensokyo."

"Um…actually…how do I get to Former Hell again?"

* * *

><p>"You can't threaten me like that!" Tenshi was outraged that this Sanzu River guide had the audacity to openly threaten a celestial, much less Tenshi Hinanawi! "I have it on good word that everything I told you is true, and that all of Gensokyo needs to evacuate to the Underworld immediately!"<p>

"What about Higan?" Komachi was a slacker, so a chance to get some off-time was great, but she wasn't about to evacuate herself! "Is Higan also in danger? If so then that's where I need to be so I can protect Shiki-sama."

"Higan is fine, _Gensokyo_ is the world in danger here! Just come with me, dammit!"

"On one condition."

"Hm?"

"Once we're there you let me carve you up for wasting my time."

"You…want to assault me…with a scythe?" _Oh, yes please! Dye me red completely and entirely, get my hair so soaked in blood that I can't wash it out! I want you to attack me, you massive-chested river guide!_ "I would be honored to let you attack me."

* * *

><p>"So, China is fighting Orci Mundis? You know, I was going to try to tame that thing once, but then I learned that it wasn't a demon per se." Another arm hacked off, the hundredth decapitation by a rusty serrated blade. By now, nothing really hurt Judas anymore. He requested only that the demons torturing him give him frequent updates on the woman who killed him, and now he was truly satisfied. "She won't do it, you know that, right?"<p>

"Quiet, human."

"Come on, Galzar! I thought we were friends! You were the first demon I ever summoned, remember?"

"Yes, I remember it all too well."

"So lemme ask you this. Where do _you_ think I screwed up?"

"The part where you got cocky with your demonic powers. Everybody knows that no power is stronger than that of a demon, but a cocky demon is useless. Now you're a mere human again."

"I know. Exactly as I planned it…"

* * *

><p><strong>Did you really think Judas would give up? Here's a fun fact, Galzar actually was the first demon Judas ever summoned! Galzar is also my only OC to not have a full profile, and is built solely for the purpose of this story specifically. Venus, Judas, and even Orci Mundis all have their own profiles (and Azure has seen Judas's profile) but I do know what Galzar looks like. Just go do a Google search for Felguard and that should answer your questions.<strong>

** Did you know that Chapter 21 is already written, but Chapter 20 isn't? I'll say this, in the next two chapters very bad things will happen to Meiling, but this was just the spark I needed to set something off! I believe Azure knows what I'm referring to by the word "spark" and Yuka Mima and Marisa are NOT involved.**


	20. Chapter 20: Tragedy Born of Love

**I wrote this one in twenty minutes after I finished Chapter 19! Given that this one has a similar title from a chapter in the earlier parts of the story, do you know what will happen now? Well, if you do it's not happening in THIS chapter, but the next one which is already finished as well! I just hope the Gensokyo girls can forgive me for giving this story a mind of its own…**

* * *

><p><span>Day Four: The Premature Arrival of Orci Mundis<span>

The quintet was lucky enough to have gotten all the evacuations done in a single day rather than the two that they expected. Now Meiling and Venus looked out at the sky, where the black-purple aurora sat. "So," Meiling said. "We wait three days for him to arrive?"

"Seems so, Meiling. But I gotta say, I'm having some strange déjà vu."

"Déjà vu?"

"The same kind I feel when…"

"The same kind you feel when…what?"

Quietly and panicked, Venus said "When the futures I project myself to are near. Meiling, he's arriving early! He's almost here now, I have to go underground. I wish you the best of luck!"

He was going to be here early! "O-Okay!" Meiling planted her feet into the ground hard; she was ready! The last time she felt this kind of excitement was when she fought the Taisui Xingjun in her dreams, but that was a battle she never won. This time, she intended to win and save all of Gensokyo! Hong Meiling, the former gatekeeper of the Scarlet Devil Mansion! But once those three words crossed her mind, she thought back to what she found. A pile of ruins caused by an earthquake instead of a mansion…were those the circumstances Zabi was talking about that forced her to relocate? It had to be!

She could see something to the far left in the sky. It looked like a crack. It grew outward, forming more cracks. The sky itself was cracking! Just what on earth _was _Orci Mundis that it could do this? From the cracks that had to be at least as big as Youkai Mountain itself, on the peak of which stood Meiling, a massive hand stuck out. It was dark gray in color and looked like that of a very muscular human. Then a matching and equally muscular arm stuck out and another set of cracks appeared on the other end of Gensokyo's skies. From there another such arm stuck out as a third set of cracks began to appear directly in front of Meiling. The two arms grabbed the sky itself, and tore away at it, revealing the black abyss that Orci Mundis called home. Then she saw the head of the monster she would have to kill, and a monster it was! Everything besides its head and the massive black feathered wings on its back looked human and was extremely muscular. The wings looked like those of a raven, but the head was something different entirely. It had the face of a skeletal horse, with bright red eyes glowing in the sockets. Its ears looked like those of an elf, and it had demon horns and a large mane of black hair down the back of its head and neck. This was Orci Mundis; the Consumer of Worlds.

Orci Mundis looked down at the red-haired youkai, who seemed to be but a speck in comparison to this monster of monsters. "Surely," it said with a voice that echoed like thunder. "Surely you're not the only resident of this world."

"I'm not," Meiling confidently said, a smirk of the same confidence working its way across her face. "They're all hidden away from you."

"It is futile. Those who attempt to hide are only the more delicious when their fear is realized that nothing is beyond my reach. Why do they hide so?"

"They hide so that I have a bit more time."

"You don't intend to defeat me, do you? You, a mere mortal, cannot defeat the mighty Orci Mundis! I have eaten more worlds than any person can possibly imagine!"

"You're right, I don't intend to defeat you. Instead, my intentions are to kill you!"

"Then come, youkai, and show me your power!" Orci Mundis opened its mouth, having not used it to speak at all, with the intention to swallow this world as well. As it began inhaling, a great wind blanketed Gensokyo.

At first, it almost blew Meiling off her feet, but she planted her feet down even more firmly. The plan was simple, overload its heart with chi energy to cause that heart to explode, thus destroying it. Once its heart was destroyed, Orci Mundis would die and the worlds it consumed would be returned. All around her, trees were being uprooted as Meiling waited for her perfect shot. She'd only have one chance, so was charging as much chi energy as she could. She took energy from herself, from the remaining plants around her, from the mountain itself. She took the energy from the air around her, and most importantly, from the people below who were depending on her. A rainbow-colored aura of chi energy emanated greatly from Meiling's body, turning her into a beacon of power. She now had all of the chi energy she could gather, and it was roughly equivalent to all of the energy in the entirety of Gensokyo.

She leapt off the mountain's tip, letting the omni-destructive winds of Orci Mundis's inhalation carry her into the monster. All she had to do was win, how difficult could it possibly be?

* * *

><p>Underground, all of the residents of Gensokyo stood shakily in trepidation of whether Meiling would win or not. Some weren't so sure about placing all of their faith in one youkai, but the oni who could barely sit straight was fully confident in Meiling. "I've -hic- got ya beat, -hic- you crazy -hic- oni." Suika and Yuugi were in the middle of a competitive drinking game, to see who could down more alcohol before falling. At the moment, each had taken enough alcohol to kill three humans and both still stood for now. "Just -hic- give up."<p>

"-hic- Not happening, -hic- Suika." The only people who could understand the unintelligible slurs of the two drunkards were the two themselves, and both were too focused on the drinking game to think about anything else. Anything at all.

"Hey Yuugi, -hic- I think I'm supposed to do -hic- something important…do -hic- you know what it was?"

"No, -hic- I don't. But I -hic- gotta ask you -hic- something."

"What?…-hic-"

"Where -hic- did your little friend -hic- go?"

That got her attention! "I give!" Suika began frantically searching around for Flandre. She couldn't believe she'd done this! She promised Meiling one thing, and that was that she would watch Flandre! Now she got caught up in a drinking game and the vampire was nowhere to be found. "Help," Suika yelled. "I need to find a small vampire! She's wearing red and has metal wings with prisms on them!"

Remilia listened to this description. _Flandre's down here? I saw her walk toward the exit, but I thought I was just seeing things…oh, no. This won't go well at all._ "Sakuya."

"Yes, Mistress?"

"Something very bad is going to happen. Meiling may end up killing somebody, but I urge you to not stop her."

"But, Mistress! I can't stand by knowing that somebody will die, you know that."

"I'll send somebody who can't die."

"No, let me. Please, I'm begging you." _I know you don't want it, and I know what will happen. That's why I have to do this. If it's somebody else, Meiling might go on a rampage, but if I do it then it might knock some sense into her before that person dies. The last thing this world needs is a rampaging Meiling. She would become just another hateful youkai, and the real monster living under the surface would boil to the top and take her over. I can't allow that after all she's done for me._

* * *

><p>Flandre broke out of the underworld with Laevatien, with a plan. She'd been listening this whole time while the group was talking about Orci Mundis. All she had to do was destroy his heart, right? The winds sucked her right in, but she wanted to get there quickly anyway, when she saw Meiling. The vampire flew over to Meiling, already knowing in whole her plan. Since it was a destruction job, she was better suited for it than anybody. Not only that, if Orci Mundis ate worlds like everybody said, Meiling would die in there for certain no matter how powerful she was! Flandre would not allow it! Once she got to the gatekeeper, she grabbed her and tried to throw, but her wrist was gripped by Meiling.<p>

"What the hell are you doing," Meiling shouted. "You're going to get yourself killed out here!" Meiling tried to throw Flandre back, but the vampire grabbed Meiling before she could let go, and threw the gatekeeper back instead. As far back as Youkai Mountain. "Flandre, don't do it!"

The vampire turned back to Meiling, and smiled. She knew what she was doing. She flew into the mouth of Orci Mundis, wildly swinging at anything in sight with her legendary (and stolen) sword, stopping the monstrous inhalation. From here, she would have to work her way down. It was a long flight, and she saw many things from many other worlds. She saw massive robots, a red-coated vampire, warriors with different weapons in black robes, and countless other things. So it was true. Orci Mundis did eat worlds, and if Flandre didn't hurry up, Gensokyo would be next. Surely on the outside, there were showers upon showers of blood raining down on Gensokyo, and it would probably take a very long time to clean it up, but Flandre wouldn't be there for the cleaning. She knew that already. She had to make her own plan in counter to the plan Venus made.

If Orci Mundis ate worlds, then whoever killed it would run out of life energy by the time they reached the heart. Flandre was a vampire so she had significantly more mileage (so to speak) for the same amount of life energy. That meant she would be able to reach the heart, destroy it, and live to tell about it. Just as she planned, after countless slices to the inside of the monster, there it was. The heart.

Once it was destroyed, this would be over. Flandre pointed an open hand to the area where the tension was the highest. "Kyuu!" It was over. Orci Mundis was going to die, Gensokyo would be saved, and the Meiling that Flandre cherished so much would get to live on. But at what price?

Flandre quickly flew back out, but as soon as she exited the mouth of Orci Mundis, she ran out of energy, and began to fall.

Meiling saw this, and quickly flew over to catch her before the vampire fell to her death. _Why did you do it, Flandre? You didn't do it just to save me, right?_ And most importantly, was this the future that Venus saw? She said Meiling was the only one who could do it, so it couldn't have been! But what mattered was catching Flandre. Once she did, she flew to the sealed entrance of Former Hell, and knocked. "He's dead, you can all come out."

People began flooding the way out, but Meiling stopped her three adventuring companions, and led them into the forest with an exhausted Flandre in her arms. "Suika," Meiling desperately said. "I told you to keep an eye on her."

"I-I know -hic- and I was, but me and -hic- Yuugi got into -hic- a drinking game and -hic- next thing I knew she -hic- was gone!"

"I don't know whether to forgive you or not…not yet at least." Once they were in a small clearing in the Forest of Magic, Meiling set Flandre down on the ground. She was alive, but she wouldn't have long by the looks of her.

Venus slowly took a step away from the group, one after another. She already knew what was going to happen…

* * *

><p><strong>Well, I doubt they forgive me, but I don't forgive me either so it's cool. In this and the next chapter, Venus can be likened to the American government in how she will act about Flandre's soon-to-be death. This note is short because the next chapter is up already!<strong>


	21. Chapter 21: The Consumed

**Third chapter in a day! I'm on a roll today! Meiling experiences a big blend of emotions in this one, but it's overall a very sad chapter, which is unlike me. But I did notice something. In Chapter 10, Judas killed Flandre. In Chapter 20, Flandre did a kamikaze run against Orci Mundis. I wonder what would happen in Chapter 30? Judas's return? Maybe…**

* * *

><p>Flandre looked up at Meiling, the time spent inside Orci Mundis draining her of most of her energy. The youkai she was looking at seemed shocked that she did what she did, throwing Meiling out of the way and killing Orci Mundis herself. "Did…did I do good?"<p>

"Don't speak," Meiling quickly said, rubbing Flandre's forehead. "It was supposed to be me in there, not you."

"But…-cough- you'd die. I don't want Meiling to die." Flandre was already dead once by becoming a vampire, and twice by being killed. But those who were about to experience it always knew what happened if you died after death. For a vampire it was different though. Starting at her feet and working up, her complexion was turning gray, like dust.

Meiling saw this color change, and began to panic. "Flandre, please don't die! I can't watch you die again, I just can't." Tears filled Meiling's eyes. When Flandre was killed by Judas she began to accept the fact that she would never have to experience that again, but here it was right in front of her, the second and final death of Flandre Scarlet. Her body and soul would be erased completely, never to return. Meiling couldn't bear that thought. "There's so much I wanted to do with you."

"Just…be happy, okay?" Her entire body was gray now, even her hair. With a light swoosh, it turned to dust.

Meiling frantically tried to grab at least a speck of that dust as it blew off in the breeze. "No, no. No!" Any dust she could catch slipped through her fingers. One little girl fought Orci Mundis alone, she won but turned to dust and then there were none. Meiling broke down there. Another crisis that to her would never be truly over. "Dammit!"

Venus carefully approached Meiling, and said "I'm sorry, but I couldn't tell you."

"…What did you just say?"

"I couldn't tell you about this happening, otherwise you'd try to prevent it and kill all of us. She was a monster and-" She was cut off by an enraged Meiling, who threw her into a tree and leaving a crater in the unfortunate plant.

"You ungrateful bitch! You could've warned me that this would happen! I could have saved Flandre's life if you told me!"

"She was already dead, so it didn't matter if-" Cut off again, this time by Meiling's hand gripping the small human's neck tightly. Venus began to struggle, trying to get out of the strangling grip of a Meiling who looked like she was never this angry at somebody before, ever.

"It matters more than you can imagine! She's no monster, she was my friend! She was like a sister, even a daughter to me! Just because you think you're the righteous one, you think you can take that away from me!"

Suika and Momiji quickly ran over, so that they could at least try to save Venus. "You'll -hic- kill her!" The oni tried as hard as she could to pry the Chinese fingers off of the small neck belonging to an equally small person. "Think about -hic- this!"

"Good, I want her to die." Momiji tried to pry the fingers off as well, but got backhanded hard by Meiling's other hand, shooting the tengu into another tree. "I want to see her face when she realizes that it's the end for her." The hand that hit Momiji went around and hit Suika with equal force. Meiling would let nothing stop her. The human's face was turning purple from the lack of oxygen. Soon, Flandre's life would be avenged. Meiling would take all the hate she harbored for Judas, and let loose that and the new hate for Venus all out on this human. Or she would have if a knife didn't go straight through her arm, forcing her to let go. "Goddamn you Sakuya!"

"Meiling," the maid said softly. "Think about this rationally. What good would it do if-"

"Shut up! I quit my job, remember? You don't have authority over me any longer; we're equals now. I'll see that this human dies, even if I need to kill _you_ to get it done." No longer did she care about the gasping human at her feet. She watched for the wave of knives she knew was coming. Once it did come, Meiling jumped right over it, grabbing one knife while airborne. With a scream, she ran at Sakuya, and for a second, the _real_ youkai in her flashed in her eyes. The sound that followed sounded like a tree being chopped down.

Sakuya looked down. That really did just happen. Now there was a knife through her stomach. The maid coughed up blood, and said "Meiling…why?"

Once rationality returned, Meiling looked at her actions. "No…no, no!" Meiling quickly pulled out the knife, and yelled "Somebody help me dammit!"

Everybody quickly gathered to where Meiling was, still unable to believe that Meiling just delivered a fatal blow to somebody, much less Sakuya who, as it was speculated, Meiling herself raised. Momiji looked at the wounds, and said "They go straight through the entire body, and her stomach's torn up real bad."

"I can't let Sakuya die like this, not after what happened to Flandre! How do I fix this?"

"…I don't think we can, Meiling."

"Don't give me that bullshit! How will I explain this to Remilia? Am I supposed to go in and say 'Sakuya got killed by her own knife' or something like that? I won't do it!"

"Meiling…" Sakuya said. "Remilia…knew."

"What?"

"She knew…you'd kill me."

"Then why did she send you out here?"

"I…volunteered. Remilia begged…against it, but…if I didn't you'd…become one more hateful…youkai." Sakuya's eyelids were starting to get heavy. Was this what it felt like to die? It was warm.

"No, don't die on me! You're tougher than that, Sakuya! Please…I'm sorry!"

"Don't be…I should be the one…apologizing."

"You? What the hell did you ever do that you need to apologize for?"

"I…mistreated you as…the gatekeeper. Just…do what Flandre said, okay?"

"I can't. Flandre, the one person I could turn to when I was feeling sad, just sacrificed her existence to save my life, and now I murdered you in cold blood! How the hell am I supposed to be happy through all of this!"

"There is…one other thing. I never got to…thank you."

"Thank me? For what?"

"For…doing a great job at…raising me."

Why was Sakuya doing this to her now of all times? Every word the maid was saying was like mental torture to her. Yes, Meiling had raised her, but that was before either of them worked at the Scarlet Devil Mansion. Meiling always exaggerated about how long she worked at the mansion, and only really started working there about a week before the scarlet mist incident. When Sakuya was sixteen and under Meiling's care, the human ran away to become a vampire hunter. Sakuya was the one who lost to Remilia and became a maid for losing, and she happened across Meiling at the human village while doing some shopping. Friendly words were exchanged and Meiling was convinced to work at the mansion to see more of her unofficial daughter. And in the end, it became Sakuya who disciplined Meiling when the human was an adult. Now the cycle ended with one final knife to the stomach.

"…Meiling, can I say…one last thing?"

Now Meiling was crying again, aided by the fact that she never really got to finish crying for Flandre. "Sure. What is it?"

"I'm sorry I ran away…mom." Game over. Sakuya Izayoi, the perfect and elegant maid of the Scarlet Devil Mansion, former vampire hunter extraordinaire, the "adoptive" daughter of a Chinese youkai, was dead.

"It's…okay." Meiling cried into Sakuya's chest. Even in this grim situation, one thought was running through her head. At any other time it would have amused her, but not right now. _I knew it! Everybody was wrong, she doesn't use pads! I guess she locally accelerated time around her breasts to make them grow faster. But why did that have to be discovered now, when all the pads in the world would mean nothing?_

"Meiling," Suika softly said. "…I don't know -hic- what to say. Do you…do you want -hic- some sake?"

"N-No…I need a clear head."

"Can I get you -hic- anything at all to make you feel better?"

"No. This is a wound that only time can heal." _Time. I don't think I can ever look at that the same way. What's this horrible pain I feel deep inside? Flandre's death was devastating, but now I have to deal with the second death of the girl who was my friend, and in my mind my sister and sometimes my daughter. Not only that, but Sakuya, my actual daughter, is also dead. How the hell did this happen? What did I do to cause all of this?_ "Venus."

The human got ready to run, and nervously asked "Yes?"

"Unless you want me to kill you, go back to your world and never come to Gensokyo or the world that it is connected to ever again. If I ever see you again, nothing will stop me from tearing each of your body parts off one by painful one, but I'm giving you one chance to go back to your home; your family. Orci Mundis is dead, so you should have your world back, right?"

"Yes. Thank you for helping me, thank you very much." The girl faded away, crossing over to her own world. She would have many stories to tell the people she loved, including the amazing stories of her brief adventures in Gensokyo. But she would never return, as she promised. She didn't want to; she was horrified of the Chinese youkai that threatened to kill her.

Meiling couldn't stand it, carrying the dead body of Sakuya in her hands. She was told that all the magical energies in Gensokyo brought people back to life. Well, where was the maid's resurrection? No, things were certainly changing in Gensokyo, changes that must have started when…

Changes that must have started when _he_ arrived. At the top of her lungs, Meiling screamed "Judas!"

* * *

><p>Even in the lowest pits of Hell, the necromancer could hear her. This torture was meaningless to him, being nothing more than a way to pass the time while he waited for his powers to return to him. "Looks like I did well, eh boys?" The response he got was having his legs cut off for the thousandth time by a large demon with an axe. "Hey, what if I offered you a way to experience something amazing? An entire world under your command, eh Galzar?"<p>

The demon thought for a second, and rested his head on the hilt of his axe. "I'm listening, but this had better be good, human."

"I thought we were pals. Lemme hear you say it."

"This had better be good, _Judas_."

"There ya go. Now, what I'm thinking is that…"

* * *

><p>"Meiling, we need -hic- to tell Remilia."<p>

"Not right now. Just come here for a little while."

The oni wasn't going to argue. Meiling had just lost both Flandre and Sakuya in the same day; arguing was the very last thing she wanted to do anytime soon. Suika took a seat next to Meiling, who was now facing away from the recently deceased maid, and put her hand on Meiling's back.

Meiling turned and put her head on Suika's shoulder and her arms around the oni, still not done crying for the deceased. "You know it was an accident, right?"

Suika was taken by this sudden action, and was thankful Meiling couldn't see her now-red face. Suika just hugged Meiling back, and softly said "Yeah, you -hic- didn't mean to do it. I know that Momiji and I aren't -hic- Flandre and Sakuya, but we'll do everything we can to help you feel the warm feelings you felt when they were around, okay?"

"Thanks…twice."

"Twice? Why the second -hic- thank-you?"

"For being there for me."

* * *

><p>"So?"<p>

"Judas, you are a sick and demented human. I like your style. It won't be easy to get you out of Hell, but once free your powers will return."

"Excellent." Now all he had to do was wait a bit longer while Galzar tried to free him…

* * *

><p><strong>Did I already mention those fun facts about Galzar? I'm pretty sure I did. But wouldn't you know it, Judas is already planning ahead. I wonder if he can actually do it? He no longer has his powers, but Galzar is a guard so has quite a bit of authority in Hell. Imagine Shikieiki's face when Judas shows up in her courtroom if he dies again! Also, does anybody see little hearts flying around Meiling and Suika?<strong>


	22. Chapter 22: Herald of Consumption

**This one took a very long time, didn't it? Once again, maybe it just seems slower because I'm working towards a G.E.D. but maybe it really was slow. Sorry to leave everybody hanging like that, but I got occupied trying to clear an LoZ game. Speaking of LoZ, see if you can figure out who the new villain's appearance is based off of (should be easy if you like the series) and if you do you might know what could happen next…but probably not, I'm just awesome like that.**

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><p>In the end, Momiji couldn't stand on Suika's promise and returned to Youkai Mountain. But the oni stayed, regardless of what Momiji said. They had been things such as how Meiling was surrounded by death and that Suika would be next, or that the Chinese youkai had killed Sakuya with her own hands. Suika didn't care, she said at the beginning that she would travel alongside Meiling, and she wasn't going to give up on what she said just because of a few setbacks. The day of Sakuya and Flandre's deaths was over, and the two got up bright and early to leave. "So," Suika drunkenly asked. "Where -hic- are we going?"<p>

"The Sanzu River," Meiling said. At the moment, she was busy making herself some new accessories so that Flandre would live on. They were multiple armbands, each with one of the deceased vampire's prisms dangling from the armbands in the same order as they hung on Flandre's wings. Since they weren't organic material, the wings never turned to dust with the vampire, so Meiling had the idea to make these armbands as a way to symbolize that Flandre was still with her. A similar symbolism was in place with the silver knives on Meiling's body so that Sakuya would never leave her side. "Knowing Sakuya, she'll wait a bit before crossing the river, and I want to be able to properly say goodbye before that happens."

"I wonder if that river -hic- ever freezes? Some winters are colder -hic- than others, so what if it freezes someday? What'd happen?"

"If it froze? Well, that slacker river guide would have a nice excuse to take a lot of time off at the very least." Meiling smiled at the stupid question. Meiling was certainly right to pick Suika as a traveling partner; the oni always seemed to know how to bring a smile to Meiling's face.

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><p>The aurora that marked the coming of Orci Mundis was certainly gone from the skies of Gensokyo, but something remained. The very herald that a human girl informed the residents about still remained, and had witnessed the death of the consumer of worlds. He was the size of a child, but anybody who would meet him and live would most certainly know that this was no child. He dressed in clothes made mainly from materials that could be found in nature, mainly straw, and wore a red hat, a red shirt with a green mantle, green shorts and red shoes. However, the real eye-grabbing item on him was a mask. If one brought it down to the simplest shape possible, it would resemble a blue heart. Down the lower sides of this mask were four differently colored spikes on each half of the mask, and two large yellow spikes protruded from the top. The eyes of this mask were large and yellow with small green irises, and surrounding these eyes were red markings that reached to the bottom of the mask. This was the herald of destruction; Orci Persona.<p>

He was, despite what one would think, not very upset about the death of Orci Mundis. _Mundis was a fool. If all the worlds in existence are consumed, what is left for him? Absolutely nothing, and he would starve to death. His own gluttony is what did him in, and if he had taken worlds other than this Gensokyo like I said, he'd have been more powerful when he got here and he wouldn't have been killed by that vampire. Still, that sword she used…what an interesting weapon. Something that powerful should be in the hands of a much more intelligent being._ Orci Persona descended from the bright blue skies of Gensokyo slowly, taking as much of the view as he could. He wanted to be able to remember how this world looked forever.

After all, it wasn't going to last much longer. Every world Orci Persona ever visited was destroyed, and if he had to finish the cycle himself, so be it. He was surely powerful enough; nature itself was under his control.

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><p>Remilia was thankful for the thick mist surrounding the Misty Lake; it enabled her to be out during the daytime hours and look at the newly rebuilt Scarlet Devil Mansion. It looked just like the original, and to think that only three things would be missing. But to her, they were three very important things. Most importantly, Flandre was no longer among those in Gensokyo, nor was Sakuya. It was also true that Meiling no longer worked here, but Zabi was proving to be a much better gatekeeper anyway. Looking at the puppeteer next to her, the vampire said "Your dolls did an excellent job, Alice."<p>

"Thank you. But can I ask you a question?"

"Sure. What's bothering you?"

"Is it true that Koakuma's been acting different since that Judas incident?"

"She has. We caught her trying to seduce somebody the other day; we don't know what's gotten into her. Patchouli's been trying to root out the cause, but our greatest guess is that Judas had something to do with it."

As the two were talking, a snake youkai stepped between them, and said "Excuse me, I need to add something to the conversation at hand."

"Yes, Zabi? What's wrong?"

"Did your mansion always have two basements?"

"Two basements?"

"Yes. The basement where Flandre used to live, and there's another one beneath it."

"There's no second basement."

"Come with me, Lady Remilia, I'll show you." Part of Zabi's job was to make sure that the mansion was properly rebuilt before resuming her gatekeeper duties, and this was how she found the second basement. The first basement was still exactly the same, down to the last shattered toy, but now where Flandre's bed used to be, a door to a second basement was in place rather than what should have been there.

When the snake youkai revealed this to Remilia, the vampire couldn't believe it. "This was never here before…" Reaching out with a finger, she traced the intricate designs carved into the metal door. The lines that composed it radiated a bright red light, but the symbols looked vaguely familiar to Remilia. "Go get Patchouli, if anybody knows what these symbols are it'd be her."

"Right away." Zabi ran off with all the speed and agility that came with being a snake, glad that she could be of some assistance. It also confused her. Just what on earth was this door, and where did it come from? Fortunately, the one-week magician living here would probably have the answers they were looking for.

Upon the snake's arrival into Voile, Patchouli turned to the unwelcome guest. "Yes?"

"Remilia called for you, she said that there's a door with strange markings that you might understand in the basement."

"Fine." Patchouli stood up, not bothering to try to tell Koakuma that she was stepping out of Voile. Something had been getting into her familiar and she was trying to figure out just what it was. Could it have been something Judas caused? If so, it would probably be best if Patchouli sent Koakuma away to sort it out on her own. But that wasn't a conclusion she was ready or willing to jump to. She simply followed the snake youkai through the halls, her attention never drifting to the various fairy maids who now worked much harder since they knew that Sakuya wasn't coming back. "Things certainly change quickly, don't they?"

"What? Oh, yes." Zabi's attention was mainly on her job, and like the magician following her, she paid no mind to the maids. Once she was in the basement, she led the way for Patchouli, and pointed to the black and red door. "This is it. Any idea what these mean?"

Patchouli took a close look at the symbols. "They look familiar, but not by much. I think I saw these in a book in Voile…on the cover. Ah, yes, now I remember!"

Remilia looked at Patchouli, satisfied with her friend's vast knowledge. "Really? What are they then?"

"These symbols were on the cover of Judas's book; he left it in Voile for some reason. I could never find out what they meant, but if they were on Judas's book they mean trouble. Inside the book were various kinds of black magic, not the least of which was necromancy as you may recall. There was also demonology, hexes, curses, and much more."

"Wait, there's a difference between hexes and curses?"

"Yes and no. Hexes are essentially curses, but I use the term hex in the context that I've used the word curse as referring to an evil prayer appealing to a malevolent supernatural being, not unlike that world-eating monster that almost destroyed Gensokyo very recently. If it's black magic, it was in that book and it's on this door."

"So what can we expect?"

"One or a combination of several things. We can expect visits from ghosts, demon infestations, or some kind of great misfortune to happen to this mansion and everybody living in it. I'd say we should relocate, but we just got back from our previous relocation and I don't like that Reimu very much."

"Hmm…" It was Remilia's call, she _was_ the owner of the mansion after all. "We're going to just hang tight and see what happens here. At the very worst, Judas comes back and we go find Meiling to deal with him again."

"If you say so." Patchouli was still doubtful about Remilia's choice of action. But, as a friend to Remilia she would simply go with it.

* * *

><p>Meiling and Suika were picking up the pace this time. They started just outside the entrance to Former Hell, and now were in the general vicinity of the Misty Lake. "This mist," Meiling said, rather irritated by the lack of visibility the two had. "It's really thick, isn't it Suika?"<p>

"Ya. I tried -hic- dispersing it, but no good." Then Suika suddenly stopped. "Shhh…do you hear -hic- that?"

"Hear what?" Meiling listened closely to her surroundings. She didn't hear anything at all. "There's nothing there."

"There -hic- it is again!" Suika pointed a finger deep into the mist, and said "It's that way, come on!" Then the oni began running toward the source of the sound that Meiling couldn't hear.

Meiling had no intention of losing her only companion to the mist, and quickly followed Suika once she started running off. "Suika, I don't get what we're chasing, there's no sounds around here. Not even the fairies are doing anything." But eventually, she did hear something. It was very faint at first, but as she continued following Suika, it became slowly louder.

The two stopped and looked at what Suika had discovered. "I knew -hic- it," the oni said proudly. "There _was _something -hic- here!" It was a mansion. Or at least, it _was_ a mansion. Now it was ruins, with broken windows and a missing door in the front. Suika took a step closer, with the intentions of going inside to see what she could find.

"Wait," Meiling said quickly. "What if it's, you know, haunted?"

"Awww, is Meiling -hic- afraid of ghosts?"

"No! I have friends who are ghosts, or at least…_one _friend who is _half_-ghost." It wasn't ghosts that she was afraid of, not at all. It was the painfully obvious plot that Meiling had read a thousand and more times while on gatekeeper duties. A pair of friends going into a ruined mansion to find out if it was haunted, and they find out that it is and by the end of the book, both are dead. She didn't want that to become of Suika and herself. "I'm not scared of ghosts."

"Then -hic- why are you standing there? Come on, it could -hic- be fun!" Suika stepped into the mansion happily, watching Meiling slowly follow. "There's no ghosts in here Meiling!"

"If you say so…" Meiling took her first step into the mansion, deciding to let Suika be the leader on this one. Looking around the mansion, it seemed like it was probably a very nice place to live more than a few years ago, but it was now a gloomy-looking place with a slightly depressing air hanging over it just because such a great home had been reduced to this. Quickly, Meiling's head turned around. "Did you hear that?"

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><p><strong>Are you wondering where they are? I'll say this just to rule it out, they are NOT at the Scarlet Devil Mansion, okay? I needed a really dark soundtrack to write this chapter and future ones involving Orci Persona, so much so that I needed to create a whole new playlist of music to do it. I know where they are, and I think if you know Touhou well enough you may know it too. The source of the mysterious noise (which is not Orci Persona to clear that up) will appear early in the next chapter…I wonder who it could be?<strong>


	23. Chapter 23: Phantom Ensemble

**This one is more light-hearted for the most part. Now that I'm back in the groove of writing fanfic, you can expect this to grow quickly. Patchouli still doesn't know what's under the mansion (thank you again Azure for giving me the wonderful idea) but I do. For now, we'll call it Entity X, and it is essential for the next story arc. Yep, that's right, the Judas arc ended and then the Orci arc began. This arc is slowly approaching its end, but after the Entity X arc, I dunno what's gonna be left for Meiling and Suika to do anymore, they'll have pretty much beaten four of the most powerful villains I ever imagined…I better start getting my villain-making capabilities into gear!**

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><p>Meiling heard the noise again, and turned in a different direction. Where was this noise coming from? It seemed to be behind her just earlier, but now it was to her right. Now it was to the left, and it began coming from all sorts of directions. Unlike her as it was, the noise had her scared. "Suika," she said shakily. "Can we just go?"<p>

"But what if we find something -hic- really cool in here? Like…an ancient youkai?"

"I don't think Yukari lives here."

"Not her! I know -hic- where Yukari lives." Suika turned to the source of the noise, and caught a glimpse of what was making the noise and scaring Meiling. "Get back here!" Suika ran up the stairs after the glimpse she caught. All she saw was a foot. Judging by how it looked, whoever owned it was young and possibly a bit tall. The noise sounded off again, this time from right behind Suika; her response was to quickly turn around and punch the noisemaker right in the face without even looking.

"Ow," Meiling said with both hands covering her mouth, muffling her words a little. "You punched me right in the mouth!" Then Meiling saw the source of the noise right behind Suika. "Behind you!"

Suika made the same turn-and-punch maneuver again, this time resulting in a different voice saying the same words as Meiling did. Then Suika took a good look at who frightened Meiling. She was taller than Suika, but only by a little bit. She wore a pink uniform with a blue sun decorating the top of her hat. She had larger breasts than Suika, but that was just about everybody in Gensokyo anyway. The girl had blue eyes and hair of the same color that curled down the right side of her head. Floating next to her was a trumpet, which Suika now realized was what was making the noise. "Why -hic- are you scaring her?"

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, it won't happen again!" The poltergeist trumpeter backed away, to hear two more instruments slowly approaching. No doubt it'd be her sisters. The blue-haired poltergeist smiled and fell into the floor, taking the trumpet with her. She wasn't going to let the other two find her that easily.

Meiling watched these events transpire, and looked at the floor in disbelief. "I…what was that? I think we should go."

"Don't worry, -hic- it'll be alright okay?" On the outside, she was certainly concerned for Meiling and her apparent fear of this mansion, but on the inside she was still concerned but was laughing very much about it. Meiling, the toughest person she knew, was terrified by something as simple as a ghost.

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><p>Patchouli went to the next level of holing herself up in Voile; the extreme level she went to when something important had to be figured out. She wouldn't even leave the table she sat at, and if she couldn't solve it by the end of the day she'd even sleep in there. She had to figure out what was behind that door that had the same symbols as Judas's book. Every book about symbols surrounded herself and the table in a massive stack that could almost be called a small fort of books as the magician scanned through each one in search for any matches. Since she started, she'd gone through over fifty books and found nothing at all, and there were still hundreds remaining. They couldn't be good, not in the least if they were the same as on Judas's book. Could it have been related to a spell of his? Was it the gates to hell? Or was it something else entirely? This would be driving Patchouli mad if she couldn't figure it out soon!<p>

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><p>"So," Judas said to the demon guard-turned-servant standing beside a now-freed necromancer. "The door is already there? My, what progress. When do you think it will open?"<p>

"I predict it will open by the end of tomorrow, my lord."

Suddenly, Judas looked concerned about something for once. "Then we'd better get our shit together, let's move out. I put those seals on my book for a reason, and if _that_ gets out even I won't be able to put it back."

"May I ask what you sealed?"

"A demon. But it is a demon like no other. Many mortal men would call it a god. There's no limit to what it can accomplish with its dark power, so we need to get to Gensokyo before that beast escapes it's seals. I wrote that book in my blood for a reason. Evil spawns evil, and it also reaps what it sows. Blood tainted by black magic has more power against demons and such than any dumb holy relic."

"That's awfully considerate, to seal away something like that for the world."

"I didn't do it for them. That thing can kill me in the blink of an eye, so I had to get rid of it lest I get myself killed before I even got the invitation to Gensokyo a while back." Judas began walking toward the gates in and out of Hell, while Galzar cut down anything that tried to stop the dark wizard's advance.

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><p>In the Scarlet Devil Mansion, Remilia had sent maids for the presence of two shrine maidens. The vampire looked at the red-white and the white-blue pair, and said "You two look like characters in a game sometimes."<p>

"Enough jokes," Reimu said. "You called Sanae and I here for a reason, so what was it?"

"It's this door. I don't know what it leads to or what comes through it, but it has the same symbols as Judas's book. That means it has to be bad news, so I called for the two of you to see if you could seal it to prevent anything from coming out of it." Remilia gestured toward the door to make her point, and the dark symbols that decorated the door.

Sanae looked at the door, amazed. "It's really cool, but in a scary way. Do you have any ideas on what's back there?"

"No, and I don't want to know if it has the same symbols as Judas's book. Just seal it as best as you can, okay?"

Reimu cracked her neck bones, and said "This should be easy." It was just a door, right? Reimu set up a few amulets, and put up a bright blue barrier. "End of story, nothing gets in or out." Just as she said this however, the barrier vanished. The amulets that composed its corners broke off the wall and shattered into thousands of little pieces, briefly followed by all of the pieces flying at the shrine maiden, forcing Reimu to take evasive action. The tiny paper pieces flew past her into the wall, exploding as they made contact. _That could've been me? _"Remilia, just what the hell is back there?"

"Not sure, but now I definitely don't want to know. If it can break seals just like that, it shouldn't be tampered with." Remilia changed the topic of conversation to something more pleasant as she guided the two shrine maidens out of the basement, trying to figure out just what rested behind that mysterious door that it was strong enough to break a seal that Reimu had placed.

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><p>The three poltergeists residing in the mansion had cleared things up with Meiling, and made it well-established that the Prismriver sisters had no intention of killing either of them. This eased all of Meiling's previous concerns and fears, and now she was herself again. "But in the end, somebody always gets killed," she said, detailing the stories of her battles against both Judas and more recently, Orci Mundis. The sisters wanted to hear an interesting story, and surely Meiling delivered exactly what they wanted.<p>

"Wow," said the poltergeist in red, Lyrica. "That's a real cool adventure."

"Yeah," said the black-dressed Lunasa. "But it's also pretty sad to lose your friends like that. It kind of reminds me of Layla."

"I miss Layla," Merlin the pink-clothed Merlin said. "She was fun, and she made great food. I wonder why she didn't turn into a ghost?"

"Because," Lunasa said, "Layla had no regrets tying her to the world. You need some kind of regret to become a ghost, but we were created by Layla so it's different. Would you rather her die happy or live forever with a regret she can't resolve?"

"Quit being so mean!"

"I'm not being mean, I'm just pointing out that she-"

"No, you think I want to make her regret something to make her a ghost!"

"No, Merlin. Calm down or do we have to make another visit to Eientei to get your meds?" _I swear sometimes, isn't it obvious that I'm the oldest of the three of us? But you'd think that Lyrica was the middle child, Merlin is so immature sometimes…she's still my sister, though._ "Calm down."

"You can't go to Eientei…I won't let you!"

"Well," Meiling said, standing up from where she'd been sitting. "It's been nice meeting the three of you, Suika and I are going to go hit the road; we have a lot of traveling to do. Come on, Suika." Meiling had no intention of listening to three poltergeist sisters argue amongst themselves, and it was still a very long way until they reached the Sanzu River. "Have a nice day, you three."

"Wait, I -hic- need to grab something." Suika pulled on the chain attached to her wrist and by effect, her gourd came to her. After downing another mouthful of sake, she said "Alright, -hic- let's go to the Sanzu River." Suika led the way into the mansion, and she also drunkenly led the way out. Once she did step out, the mist was gone and they could see as far as the forest would allow them. "Alright, now we go…which way?"

This was one of the times that Meiling was happy to be sober. She could tell what way the river was, and she led the way now. They were certainly an odd pair. Hong Meiling and Suika Ibuki…it was like having two sides of the same coin in a way. Thoughts along these lines continued to cross Meiling's mind as she led the way through the forest. "So, Suika, having anything interesting on your mind?"

"Yeah, who -hic- is the kid with the mask -hic- up there?" Suika pointed up to the sky, to what looked like a child wearing a colorful and rather creepy mask. The person was just staring at them, as if he were waiting for the duo of girls to do something.

Orci Persona looked down at the two he deemed most responsible for the death of Orci Mundis, and landed not far ahead of them. "This is the furthest you go," he said with a voice that had a natural ghostly echo. "Murderers of Orci Mundis."

Now Meiling went on the defensive. "How do you know his name? I think I'd recognize somebody like you while we were evacuating Gensokyo to Former Hell, and you certainly weren't there when the plan was made to kill him. Who are you?"

"I was the herald to the arrival of the consumer of worlds, my name is Orci Persona. That black and purple aurora was my job to create and maintain until Mundis arrived. Now that he's dead, the countless worlds he consumed have returned to existence, and I plan to make you pay dearly for what you've done."

"We're sorry about killing your master, but-"

"My _master_? Don't make me laugh! Mundis would be blind without me; who do you think guided him from one world to the next? Who do you think allowed him to become as powerful as he was? No, woman, _I_ was the one in control, and now that I can't demolish worlds as quickly with Orci Mundis as my servant, I'll have to destroy them slowly one at a time…starting with Gensokyo."

"What can you do to stop us? I've seen things you can't imagine."

"And I have that you can't. Allow me to show you what _real_ power is." Orci Persona took off a small distance from the ground, growing a mass of whip-like tentacles from every inch of his body. "I never was particularly fond of Chinese food, but I guess it'd taste a little better with some endless sake and the ever-so-rare oni meat."

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><p><strong>Surprise! I bet you didn't see that coming. Also, for LoZ fans who haven't figured it out yet, Orci Persona's appearance is based off of the Skull Kid from Majora's Mask. Considering this, you may know what will happen and you may not. I will say this; the moon is not gonna start crashing down any time soon. The tentacle thing Persona is doing was sorta based around Venom and Carnage from the Spiderman comics, but I never actually read the comics. I know so much that I don't know, right?<strong>


	24. Chapter 24: The Enemy of my Enemy

**This one was fun to write. I really enjoy writing for Orci Persona; I think he's a really cool character. Also, if anybody reading this story has ideas for more bad guys that I could make before I start the Entity X arc, please say so because the end of the Entity X arc is going to mark the end of Poisonous Chinese Tea. That said, the Entity X arc is going to be a VERY long arc. Now I'm gonna quote the Mortal Kombat: Armageddon intro by saying "And old hatreds…will be revived." That give you an idea as to what will happen in this chapter? Just read the chapter, I'm working on Chapter 25 now.**

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><p>Meiling entered a martial arts stance, and said "Suika, get ready to fight."<p>

"You've got it!"

The Chinese youkai waited for Orci Persona to make the first move. Once he did, Meiling jumped out of the tentacle's way with ease, jumping and dodging one attack after another like they were nothing. "Is this the best you have," she taunted. "I thought I was going to learn what _real_ power was! Thank you for educating me on how very real my power is."

"Don't become insolent just because I'm going easy on you. Haven't you noticed, I've only attacked with one tentacle at a time. You've walked right into my trap, and now you're surrounded on all sides." Orci Persona gestured to the air around the duo, now occupied by a cage of tentacles. "And now I'll kill you slowly for mocking me so." The tentacles closed in on the girls until there was no room to move anymore, and then two more tentacles came out from each of Orci Persona's wrists. Slowly, the remaining tentacles returned to their restful place inside the body of the master of who seemed to be his master, and as soon as there was moving space again, the four new tentacles shot out. The two on his left arm wrapped around Suika, one binding her arms behind her back and the other tying her legs together. The pair on his right arm did the same to Meiling. "Since I previously stated that I dislike Chinese food, I'll start with the oni." Now, aside from the four tentacles that pinned the girls down, no tentacles at all protruded from Orci Persona's body.

Suika tried wiggling free, but it was no good. She hadn't encountered anything like this before, that these tentacles could be as thin as whips but stronger than even an oni was, an oni like Suika no less. But the more she tried wiggling free, the tighter the tentacles gripped her body, and eventually she learned that it was useless. She wasn't going to die like this…was she?

"No," Meiling pleaded. "Please don't kill her."

"Oh," Orci Persona said. "You can still speak. How about if I made these tentacles fifty times tighter on your chest, could you still speak then?" The masked monster made its point clear by doing exactly what he said he would, and tightened the tentacles so much that even near Suika he could hear her ribs cracking. Then he loosened his grip on her, and said "Speak again and I'll kill you first, and it will be the furthest thing from quick and painless, I promise." Orci Persona placed a foot on Suika's flat chest. "You have a rather noticeable lack of breasts, oni."

"How -hic- dare you!" Suika wasn't pleased that this person who had the nerve to bind her arms and legs like this would insult her like that. She could only think of one reaction, and that was to spit right onto the eye of his mask.

Orci Persona wiped the spit off the mask with a small tentacle that seemed to come out from the side of his head, and even with a mask covering his face, it was clear that he was far from happy. "The flat-chested are much easier to kill if you crush them. I'm going to constrict your body to the point that you'll want to scream at the top of your lungs in pain, but will be rendered mute by the lack of oxygen flow to and from those same lungs." Orci Persona began pressing his foot down hard, starting at what he'd call relatively easy. He planned on crushing her so hard that all her bones would become weak and frail, then stomp right through her heart! But he wasn't looking at the oni. Instead, he was looking at Meiling who was being forced to watch this. She was clearly angry and disturbed, but he could see a glimmer of sadness behind it all. Was this because she knew she couldn't stop him? After watching this face for a while, he forgot who was under his foot and pressed much harder, resulting in a deafening scream from Suika.

"Stop," Meiling yelled. "Don't kill her!"

"And why should I not?"

"Because I love her!" _Shit._ Meiling's entire face turned a ruby red from her sudden outburst, but now that she said it, even if it was accidental, her mind began registering it. She could have picked anybody else for this trip, even gone out on this journey alone. But she didn't. She brought Suika along. On their first day of adventuring, there was a massive misunderstanding about a sunset, and that misunderstanding embarrassed Meiling. If it had been any ordinary friend, she probably would have laughed with them, but she didn't because it was Suika. When they were at the Moriya Shrine, she hesitated to accept the sleeping plans that had her sharing a futon with Suika. If it were anybody else, she'd probably be fine with it, but because it was Suika she felt nervous. When everybody was evacuated underground for the battle against Orci Mundis, Meiling trusted Suika to watch over Flandre even knowing that she was a drunkard who could barely keep track of herself. And when Sakuya died, it was Suika's shoulder she wanted to cry on.

"Because you…love her?"

_Because -hic- you…love…me?_ Now Suika's mind was processing things as well, albeit in a much less organized manner. When she misunderstood what Meiling had said about a sunset, she thought that the Chinese youkai meant sex. If it were Reimu or Yukari, or even Yuugi, she would have assumed they were just talking about colors. The very next day she shared that mysterious apple with Meiling, but wasn't very panicked at all when she realized she had somebody else's body. If she had turned into anybody other than Meiling, looking back, she probably would have freaked out. She was also pretty sure that she was the one who proposed that she and Meiling shared a futon at the Moriya Shrine, but wasn't certain. And of course, when Meiling murdered Sakuya like that, Suika didn't leave. That was more than just an oni's promise now that she understood why she stayed; it was devotion. The oni wanted to tell Meiling that she loved her back, but Orci Persona's foot crushing her lungs made it nearly impossible for her to even breathe.

"Well," the masked monstrosity said. "If you love her, then I suppose some mercy is in order."

Meiling sighed, and said "Thank you."

"I'll kill her quickly." As Orci Persona raised his foot back up, he slammed it down, resulting in what sounded like a fireworks show of a shattered ribcage, and if he pushed hard enough, an oni's heart as well.

"No! You monster! How could you do that?"

"Because I like that warm feeling murder gives me." The tentacles that bound Suika hurled her body against a tree, and now the remaining pair that held Meiling down began to constrict. Orci Persona would kill this girl just as he planned. "Love is overrated, you know. If two people meet and fall in love, they entirely forget that one day, they'll both be dead. I simply saved you the trouble of having that heartbreak later."

"As soon as I'm free, I'll kill you."

* * *

><p>At the Scarlet Devil Mansion, Koakuma answered the knocking at the door of Voile. The guest entered, wearing a thick black cloak to disguise their identity. "I come in peace," the guest said. "I simply came in search of a book and then I have to go be a hero."<p>

Patchouli looked up from the book about Egyptian hieroglyphics she was reading, and asked "What do you want? It'd better be good for interrupting me."

"Oh, it's good…but it could easily become very, _very_ bad."

* * *

><p>Meiling continued to struggle against the constriction of the tentacles that would be her death if she didn't do something. She wasn't going to cry; she wouldn't let this monster see her cry. No matter what, Meiling wouldn't allow herself to shed a tear. If ever there were a time for stone-cold determination, now would have been that time. But no matter how hard Meiling tried to free herself, the tentacles kept getting tighter and tighter. "Just what are you?"<p>

"I thought I already told you that. I was the herald to Orci Mundis, dumb girl."

"No…_what_ are you?"

"As a living being, I am many things. I am grass and I am trees. I am a flower and I am a vine of thorns. I am everything in nature and most importantly, I am the worst nightmare of any living creature. But this gets old fast, shut up now." From Orci Persona's arm, another tentacle shot out, this one wrapping around Meiling's mouth. "Don't bother biting, either. These tentacles don't feel pain, so even if you sliced them off it wouldn't hurt in the least." Just as he said this, a wave of black energy came down from the sky. It sliced right through all of Orci Persona's tentacles, and the ends that held Meiling crumbled to dust. However, despite what he had just said, the former herald was gripping his arm in pain. He quickly looked up to the source, and yelled "Show yourself, you damn coward!"

Meiling was on her feet, but now she too was searching for that source. There was something in the air; something that wasn't there before. It felt cold like death, but the air was still no colder than it already was. Eventually, she saw the source. Whoever this person was, they wore a dark blue coat that reached to their ankles and a pair of white gloves. It looked like this person was wearing a brown pair of pants, but once the person himself was visible, Meiling knew exactly who she was looking at. "Judas!"

"My battle's not with you, China. At least…not yet, anyhow."

"I killed you with my bare hands! You should be in Hell!"

"I have friends who got me out. Now then, enough chitchat." He would need a high-impact spell, but the book in his arm; the very book he wrote, would amplify his power. Still, it would have to be strong. Judas's hand was soon engulfed in a green flame; the same kind the broke the gates to the Netherworld some time ago, and he let it loose in one high-power fireball.

Meiling jumped out of the way, but the fireball hit nowhere near her. Instead, it hit…Orci Persona? Yes, the creature's body was now aflame and he was desperately trying to extinguish himself. "What're you scheming, Judas?"

"First off, let's establish something. If anybody is going to kill you, it will be me. Secondly, and I can't believe I'm actually saying this to the lunatic who killed me, but I need your help."

"I can't believe I'm saying this to the lunatic who killed my best friend, but what do you need my help with? And in exchange, I need a favor from you."

"Name your price."

"See this oni?" Meiling walked over to Suika's body, and said "I need you to bring her back to life. With necromancy of your level, it shouldn't be too hard."

"I'm afraid I can't do that."

"What? And why the hell can't you do that?"

"Because she's not dead; she's simply between life and death. If her will is strong enough, she'll get herself back up. As for my problem, if we don't do something it'll become everybody's problem."

Meiling picked up the oni and placed Suika onto her shoulders. "Let's walk and talk. I should probably kill you just for existing at this point, but you _did_ save my life."

"Splendid. Now, you see…" As the necromancer left, informing Meiling about the problem he was going to have to deal with, both of them were oblivious to the mask that laid on the ground, its eyes seemingly watching them leave.

And then those eyes blinked.

* * *

><p><strong>Yep, they blinked. NOW LoZ fans will know what's going on. I surprised you in this chapter, didn't I? You didn't expect Judas to save Meiling's life like that, eh? And I bet you REALLY didn't expect him to ask for her help. To be honest, I didn't see it coming either, I just let the characters tell me what to do. The Orci Persona arc hasn't ended yet, and I'm not starting the Entity X arc until this arc and those of any other villains you guys (assuming anybody besides Azure is reading this) inspire me to create are all over. Because as I said at the beginning of this chapter, the Entity X arc is the FINAL arc of Poisonous Chinese Tea.<strong>


	25. Chapter 25: The Heart and the Liver

**25 chapters! That means that on my desktop, I've reached 100 pages of Poisonous Chinese Tea! I don't usually do this, but I have to since I feel so great now, so a quick summary of what will happen is below. If you dislike spoilers, please proceed right to the story. Oh, also, I forgot to mention in the story that the person Judas is talking to at the beginning of this chapter is Meiling.**

**Screw chapter summaries, you can read it hahahahahaha!**

* * *

><p>Judas traced the symbols in the mysterious door in the basement of the Scarlet Devil Mansion, and said "My sources predict that this'll open by the end of tomorrow. I, for one, think that they're wrong since for all my dark magical power, I've also been exceptional at sealing spells. Once this opens, even I can't close it which is why these seals are on the cover of my book. It's a demon like no other and if it gets out, nothing can stop it."<p>

"What's its name?"

"It has many names. It could be Patchouli Knowledge, and it can also be Remilia Scarlet. It could be Hong Meiling or Suika Ibuki, or even Judas Nekross. Bottom line: it's deadly, it's vicious, it needs to be kept locked up."

"And how would we do that?"

"Simple. You see, the seals that work to keep this guy locked up are a special spell. It's similar to becoming a lich, only instead of binding a soul to an object so the soul never dies, it binds a space to an object so that nothing can get in or out of that space. However, my book is rather old and the condition of it is beginning to deteriorate. That means that the spell will also weaken, but a book is the best object to bind a spell to so it seemed like a good idea at the time."

"So, long story short…I don't get it."

"The seals that lock this demon away are weakening, and eventually he'll be able to escape. I need to find something new to bind the spell to before that happens." Judas flipped through his grimoire as he said this. "The only problem there is that the pages of this book were empty when I bought it, and were still empty when I cast the spell. Now all of the pages are full and the spell isn't in here."

"I'm sure Patchouli has a book with the spell you're looking for."

"Impossible. See, in the human world I was the co-leader of a cult. My master wrote the book with the sealing spell, and it's the only one of its kind. Like myself, he keeps his book close at hand at all times despite his complete knowledge of every spell he possesses. This means that unless we're able to get across the border and actually find the guy, this demon will be freed and the everybody in Gensokyo will be affected by it."

"There's only one way across the border, and that's through Yukari Yakumo." Meiling looked pretty doubtful. "She's really lazy, though, and I hear that she's not opening any border-crossing gaps lately. Besides, if you left she'd never let you back into Gensokyo."

"I see."

"So where does that leave us?"

"Fucked."

* * *

><p>The blue mask worn by the former herald of Orci Mundis continued gazing at the sky. <em>What a useless body that was. Next time I see that necromancer, maybe I should take his body. Surely, the power he possesses would be useful to say the least, but for now a body of my own will have to do.<em> From the back of the mask, countless thinner-than-paper tentacles began stretching out and intertwining with each other. Until it found a new body to control, it would produce one of its own out of countless tentacles. _This is a world full of magic, so surely whomever I possess next will be a host that is worthy, unlike that child._

* * *

><p>Judas had told Meiling to not worry too much about the door and what rested behind it, telling her to instead worry about Suika. Apparently, he'd been there when Meiling said she loved the oni, and he had told her more recently that it's not uncommon in the human world for two enemies to join together to defeat a greater foe, and that surely Meiling knew that this was true being from China herself.<p>

So Meiling sat on the floor next to the futon the fairy maids brought out, on which rested a barely living oni. Meiling hoped that she'd make it through okay, more than anything in the world. She'd lost Flandre and then Sakuya; she just wasn't ready to lose Suika now as well. She kept thinking back, about what she could have possibly done to prevent this chain of events. If she'd been paying more attention, she would have probably noticed Judas's presence when he first arrived in Gensokyo…and if she had then he would have never killed Flandre or traumatized Youmu. If she had just been more careful in choosing who should watch Flandre while she fought Orci Mundis, Flandre would probably still be alive and cheerful to this very day. It drove her to tears now that she looked back and realized that if she had just tried harder, none of this would happen. Flandre wouldn't be dead, and by effect Meiling would have never killed Sakuya. She would have never had the chance to know Suika better either, but Meiling didn't know if it was okay to just take that one and call it a win, not after all that she'd been put through by what she decided had to have been herself. Yes, that had to be it…she'd done all of this to herself.

In Voile, Judas and Patchouli were combining all their combined knowledge on what rested behind that door and any methods possible of defeating it. Remilia stood at the doors of Voile and could barely hear what they were saying, but they weren't where her attention was anyway. Her attention was a long way down the hall, to where Meiling was. The former gatekeeper of the Scarlet Devil Mansion…things became a lot quieter when she quit. To be honest, Remilia kind of missed having so many unwanted visitors in the mansion. The vampire mistress slowly approached Meiling, and took a seat next to her. "How's your friend?"

"She's not looking well. But I have faith in her."

"You're crying. What's the matter?"

"I was just thinking back. Back to when Judas was our enemy; our very living enemy, and then to the Orci Mundis crisis. During both of those times, Flandre died…and it was my fault."

"No, Meiling, no. Don't ever say that, don't even think it!"

"It is…if I tried harder at my job we'd never have to deal with Judas in the first place. Even if he still got in, he wouldn't have killed Flandre if I just backed down like I was told. When Orci Mundis arrived, I trusted Suika, a drunk, to watch Flandre. If I'd been wiser and asked Sakuya or you, she wouldn't have died. If she never died, I wouldn't have been so angry that I'd kill Sakuya…what the hell am I?"

Remilia placed a hand on Meiling's back, and said "You're just you. Everybody makes mistakes. Looking back, I shouldn't have locked Flandre away, and I should've trusted her. But I didn't, and now I'll never see her again. When you were in the basement watching her…did she ever talk about me?"

"All the time. She always asked when you'd let her out, but I could never answer her. I didn't want to tell her why she was down there, and I could never lie to her and say that it'd be sometime soon. And every time she asked, I wondered the same thing myself. She idolized you, Lady Remilia; she just wanted to come up and see you."

"I see." Remilia placed her hands over her mouth, and looked down at her feet. Now she felt terrible about herself. To pile onto the feelings she was trying to cope with about how she never let Flandre out of the miserable little basement, now she knew that it was all Flandre ever talked about. "I just wish I had one more chance."

"So do I. But I hear that Zabi is a much better gatekeeper than I am."

"That's true…but I miss the noise of unwanted visitors, and the witch firing danmaku at all our maids. I miss how things used to be, Meiling. I'd like you to become the Scarlet Devil Mansion's gatekeeper again."

"I hate to disappoint you, but I can't go back to working here. In the past, it'd be because I was always punished by Sakuya, but now it's because I know that it'll never happen again. It's pretty weird, isn't it, what seeing somebody die can do to a person?"

"It is strange. If you won't take the job, can you at least stay a while longer?"

"That is something I'll have no problem doing. But, I need to watch over Suika until she either wakes up or…" She didn't want to say it. Meiling wouldn't let herself say "or she dies" for fear of jinxing herself. She wanted to just sit here and think about what she had done, and what she would do once this was all done. _When was the last time I felt so miserable? I don't think I've ever felt this way, even when Sakuya ran away or even when I killed her. Maybe it's because I killed her that I feel so awful now? I don't even know if I want to keep going on this adventure, if it puts Suika at risk now. If she died now that I know how I feel for her…I don't know what I'd do with myself. But she'd want to keep going. Oh, Suika…_

* * *

><p>Suika was still hanging in the balance of life and death, but while her body tried to fight death off, her mind occupied her with a dream. It felt like the good old days from before she even went above ground. Back when it was her and Yuugi doing whatever they felt like and sharing Suika's endless supply of sake. Those were some of her happiest days, having such fun with her best friend. "Hey," Suika said. "I'm thinking about going up above ground. What do you think, wanna come along?" It had been one of the rare days when she wasn't drunk or hung over. Her mind was clear, and that was how she came to the conclusion.<p>

"You're leaving?"

"I never said that. I just said I'm thinking about it."

"You shouldn't do it. All that you need is down here. Besides, what could possibly be up there that isn't down here?"

"I hear that it's a whole different environment up there. I've heard that the tengu and kappa we used to command have made great progress, and I've heard a lot of other good things. It sounds like a nice place."

"But nothing's more fun than Former Hell! Besides, if you leave who else is gonna drink sake with me? Nobody I know can drink like you can, and we have lots of fun together."

"Yeah," Suika said between small sips of sake. "I guess you're right. It was a dumb idea." Was this a dream about what it would have been like if she never went above ground? It had to be if she wasn't going anywhere, but it wasn't like Suika herself knew that. When she woke up, it'd just be a dream, but until then it was reality to her. "Hey, did you talk to Parsee?"

"Yeah. She's really giving me hell lately."

"Heh, I'm sure glad I don't have anybody who I have to commit myself to like that or else I'd be neck-deep in trouble!" Suika smiled and handed the gourd to Yuugi. "You try finishing it off, I need a clear head for now."

"I can't. Parsee's got me cutting down on the alcohol so I'd end up with a good six hours of being yelled at if I tried."

"You've gotta show her who's boss!" Suika took down a mouthful of sake, and smiled to her friend.

Then her dream fast-forwarded years ahead, to what might have been approximate to the current date in Gensokyo. Suika sat in a bar in Former Hell with her head slammed on the counter. "More -hic- sake, good sir. The very best you have."

"Alright," the barkeep said. "You're really drinking it up tonight. Even for an oni, isn't this much a little…excessive?"

Suika looked up at the barkeep with eyes bloodshot from so much alcohol running through her system at once, an amount that was dangerous even for an oni. "There's -hic- never too much…sake!" Where was Yuugi? Her friend was supposed to meet her somewhere today. Maybe the barkeep knew? "Where's Yuugi?"

"I heard she's out on a date…with that bridge princess, Parsee. Yeah, I saw them pass by here not too long before you stumbled in. They looked like the happiest people in the world, I tell ya."

Suika moaned loudly, partially because of the alcohol and partially from disappointment. "At least I still have my sake…-hic- right?"

"Do you have money?"

"No."

"Then how are you going to pay for all of this?"

"I'll -hic- um…how about this?" Suika held up her prized possession, the legendary gourd of endless sake, and slurred "I'll give ya this -hic- for more sake." Was that the lesson to be learnt? That without something to love besides her drink she'd lose that eventually? The shock that she gave away her gourd in the dream snapped her awake in reality.

"Where's my sake!"

* * *

><p><strong>I feel sorry for Suika since she had a nightmare. Suika…nightmare….suddenly I'm tempted to do a crossover between Touhou and Nightmare on Elm Street. But no, this story is my highest priority, and the Orci Persona arc still has a good three chapters left at the very least. If you ask me, this was a very depressing chapter, perhaps the most depressing chapter that this story has ever had. Quickly, help me think of a villain before the Entity X arc begins! Hmm…I wanna throw out a quick list of voice actorsactresses I envision in this, and who I think they would voice…**

**Meiling - Michelle Ruff  
><strong>**Suika - Stephanie Sheh (like Orihime)  
><strong>**Remilia - How about G.K. Bowes?  
><strong>**Flandre - There was a girl on YouTube who dubbed Flan…I choose her.  
><strong>**Sakuya - Who did the voice of Ms. Kuroi in Lucky Star?  
><strong>**Judas - Sam Riegal  
><strong>**Orci Mundis - Crispin Freeman  
><strong>**Orci Persona - Let's get a REAL villain role for Johnny Bosch!**


	26. Chapter 26: Faces in the Flames

**Once again, it's been a while hasn't it? Or maybe it just feels long like always? Regardless, my brother is going to the eye doctor tomorrow and I volunteered to go with him and mom. I'm hoping that my glasses are ready and waiting for me, since they look a bit like Rinnosuke's own glasses. Yes, this is indeed intentional as I want to get a Rinnosuke costume in the near future, but I should probably make sure I don't get any taller first. It'd suck if I bought one and had a last-second growth spurt that forced me to buy another! Anyway, two more characters come into the picture here but they don't do too much other than…I won't say.**

* * *

><p>Meiling quickly turned to the oni when she shot awake, and handed her the gourd that rolled onto the floor. "Here, what's the matter?"<p>

Suika grabbed the gourd tightly, and said "I thought I lost it."

"Sounds like you had a bad dream. Drink a little, and if you wanna talk about it I'll listen."

"Thanks." Suika downed a mouthful of the sake, and then it hit her why her mind was making her dream that dream. Was it because Meiling confessed that she loved her, and thus Suika realized that she loved Meiling back? Well, she wasn't drunk yet and it sounded logical, so that had to be it. "I was in Former Hell, it was some years ago." Suika continued her story between mouthfuls of sake to get herself drunk again. "It was the day when I had the idea to go above ground, only in the dream…I never went. I stayed underground and I drank and I drank and I drank, and I also had fun around town and had no girlfriend or anything like that."

"Sounds about the same as always."

"No, then the scary part came. I was in a bar, so drunk I couldn't even hear straight just taking round after round of entire bottles of sake. Sure, my gourd is endless but even I stop at some point. I just kept drinking and drinking, and I asked the bartender where Yuugi was. He said she was on a date, and that her and her girlfriend looked really happy together. Then he asked how I was gonna pay for my sake. I had no money, so I had to give him the gourd. Then I woke -hic- up." Suika held her gourd tightly, saying "I was scared at the end."

"It sounds scary. You need to relax a little, okay? What do you think it means?"

"That I need to love people more than sake, maybe? And I choose…you."

"Me?"

"Yes."

Meiling's face turned red for the umpteenth time since her adventure started, as she stammered "Uh, w-well yeah I suppose it could be…m-me."

"You said you loved me."

"I did, didn't I? Once I said it I realized it too. Since you chose to love me, I guess it's easy for me to now say, I love you Suika."

"And I love you too Meiling." Suika held the gourd up high, and said "To…us." Suika nearly drowned herself in sake, and once it was all into her system, smiled at Meiling. "Mmm, that's -hic- good sake. Want some?"

"Sure."

* * *

><p>The newly formed body of Orci Persona wasn't an exceptionally powerful one as far as bodies went, but it was certainly strong enough in the powers of the dark being itself to cause plenty of terror. All the eyes of the monstrous mask saw was buildings burst aflame and the resident human fleeing from this…this indescribably powerful youkai, if even that. It's large eyes kept changing direction, whipping out tentacles to capture any human it could see before they escaped. However, its eyes stopped eventually when it saw a person who didn't run…two of them. They had some features in common, namely their long white hair and red eyes. They stood roughly the same height, and they seemed like very different friends. One wore a blue hat and a dress to match, and she didn't look all that special to Orci Persona. She wouldn't be a worthy host in the least. This second girl, though…she would do. She wore a white long-sleeved shirt and a pair of red baggy pants with suspenders. Down these pants were numerous paper charms, and she looked like she may have belonged to some kind of nobility. Most of all, there was fire surrounding her, not made by Orci Persona's powers but her own.<p>

"Is this the one," the pants-wearing girl asked with a cigarette between her fingers. "This is what's terrorizing the village, Keine?"

"That's him, Mokou. You know I'd do it myself, but it's not night yet and even then there won't be a full moon." Keine stepped back; she knew it would be a good idea if Mokou really got into the fight to get some distance between herself and the phoenix of a girl that was her friend.

Mokou dropped her cigarette and stomped it out, and said coldly to Orci Persona "What'd the humans ever do to you, tough guy? You think you can just do what you want? Not while I'm around, big guy! Come on, lemme see what you've got!"

Orci Persona's interest faded quickly. If she had to talk tough, she mustn't have been that strong at all. The being turned around, and realized its mistake of ignoring her when a massive fireball impacted its back, effectively setting each and every tentacle that composed its body on fire. Now it was interested. Orci Persona turned back around, and untied the countless tentacles that made up its false body. Now it was a floating mask with countless tentacles hanging behind it, and each and every tentacle reached out with the intention of constricting Mokou to death. Orci Persona wanted to kill her slowly like it had been wanting to do to just about anything lately with no success. This wouldn't last long at all, especially with this fire.

Mokou shot forth another fireball, so hot that the tentacles evaporated on impact. She wanted to end this quickly and just kill the creature with one shot. When the impact with the mask was made, it made a fairly large explosion that even almost reached Mokou herself. "Now that that's over with…" Mokou turned around to Keine, and said "Job well done." Just as she said that, more tentacles reached out behind her faster than she would've seen them coming. In an instant, all of her limbs were tied up, but Mokou wasn't concerned in the least. She let her enemy believe that they had her down for a moment, then burst herself into flame, again evaporating the tentacles that weren't that much of a threat at all to her. "You don't learn do you? You can't win!"

Orci Persona blinked. Sure, this was a little impressive, but there was no power greater than that of Orci Persona! By its own power, the sky above began to fill with dark clouds. If it were able to speak without a host, it would talk about how everything had a weakness in nature, and Orci Persona was always able to take advantage of that weakness. From overhead, a massive downpour began, extinguishing the fires that previously covered most of the human village. Orci Persona wouldn't be affected in the least, but his enemy most certainly would. This also stopped her friend from being able to transform since the moon was required; the clouds would certainly block out the moon when night came around. If this village wouldn't be destroyed by an inferno, then Orci Persona would destroy it by flood.

Mokou at first looked a little concerned by the sheer amount of rain, already entirely drenched in just a few seconds time, but she quickly shook that off. "Two can play at that game." Mokou put both hands in front of her; she'd need to focus a lot harder now that it was raining this hard. But as hard as she tried, she couldn't get a large fire going; it would get extinguished before she could get it large enough to make any impact at all. "Come on!" She would have to set herself on fire again and hoped that it would work. Mokou focused as hard as she could, and even for a second pretended like this evil mask in front of her was Kaguya, and in that second her entire body burst into searing flames. "That's more like it!" Mokou ran up to the mask; if she couldn't fire at it from afar then she'd have to get up close and personal with this fight. However, by the time she reached Orci Persona the fires that coated her body were gone again. That didn't change the fact that one very solid punch to the mask's eye had it stumbling back in the air, evidently hurt by the attack. _Damn, this rain's really starting to piss me off!_ She could still keep fighting this thing forever, though, so at least she had that going for herself.

* * *

><p>Zabi saw the fires at the human village from as far away as the Scarlet Devil Mansion. Trouble was brewing, she could tell. She wasn't outside, though; she would have frozen if she was. Instead, she was inside looking out one of the few windows to keep an eye out for intruders. <em>Why did they pick me as a gatekeeper? How come they couldn't choose a warm-blooded creature…like a human? I guess I can't complain though, it IS a nice job. <em>Even so, this was something that she had to report to Lady Remilia immediately! Hopefully, somebody at the mansion would be able to deal with it, though Zabi had a gut feeling of who that someone would be. The snake youkai was more than certain that the task of investigating and dealing with this would be handed to Meiling. She was the one who killed Judas, and she was the one who was supposed to fight Orci Mundis alone.

Meiling also saw the fires, and also saw them go out. "Something's up over there."

"Oh ya? Then -hic- why not go?" That was the point of an adventure, right? To get right into the heat of the action and see all that could be seen? To be able to go back with countless amazing tales that were all mostly true and only a tiny portion legend. That was what brought Suika to go on an adventure at least. "We'll both go."

"Wouldn't have it any other way, Suika." Meiling went out the door of the room, and was thankful that she used to work here. If she hadn't, she would have surely gotten lost while navigating the countless hallways that sat within the Scarlet Devil Mansion and would have trouble finding her way out. Every time she was about to turn, she looked behind herself to make sure Suika wasn't falling too far behind, as she didn't want to have a lost oni, a _drunk_ lost oni, wandering this place alone. It was sort of Meiling's obligation as she saw it.

* * *

><p>Mokou laid face-up on the soaked ground with the rain still pounding down on her. "I'm…I'm not finished yet! I can…still…fight!" Mokou tried getting back up to her feet, only to fall back down, this time with her face in the ground. She wouldn't let this thing get away! As the phoenix-possessed girl rolled over to her back, she said "Keine, any ideas what the hell that thing is? I can't even reach into my pocket for a cigarette now."<p>

"I wish I knew," Keine said, lifting Mokou's head off the ground. "But right now, I'm worried about _you_. Even if you're immortal, you can't just fight against the odds like that."

"But the village! I let them down! Look around, Keine, it's nothing but smoldering ruins. Even the school."

"I know. It's going to be a very sad day for anybody living here, and it'll be some time before this place is as good as new. But in the meantime, you're fatally wounded. It really upsets me that you just let yourself die like that, without even trying to resist. It seems like a sign of depression to me."

"If I wasn't before, I'm depressed now if that makes you feel better about me letting myself die. I'm depressed because I couldn't even kill that thing, it took advantage of my biggest weakness and then started sucking out all my energy. Keine?"

"Yes?"

"I can't feel my legs. If I become a cripple, please kill me." Mokou would rather die and get back up than be forced into a wheelchair! It'd make things much more complicated for her trying to even do simple things, and wheelchairs made it somewhat difficult to fly. But her mind moved off that topic when she heard two pairs of feet land heavily in the village. When she turned to look at who it was, she saw two girls. One was short and flat-chested, and wore a white blouse that had the sleeves torn off. The girl also had long orange hair and had horns. Yes, this was that oni that was mentioned in the news from time to time. The other had long red hair, and was much taller and chestier than her companion. This was somebody Mokou hadn't met yet. "What're you two doing here?"

"We saw the fires," Meiling said. "Just what the hell happened here?"

"The village was attacked."

"I gathered that, but _who_ attacked it?"

"Not who, but what."

"Dammit, just tell me who or what did it already!"

"As shameful as it is, especially since I couldn't kill it, it was a mask. A blue one, with these big yellow eyes."

"I see." _Impossible! I killed Orci Persona already, oh wait that was Judas who killed him. Still, that wasn't even a day ago! Unless…it wasn't him. That's why he was wearing the mask; the mask IS Orci Persona! Damn, this could prove difficult._ How was she supposed to kill an evil sentient mask? She'd need to consult an expert on the dark arts for this. As much as she hated to say it, she'd need Judas's help to get rid of Orci Persona.

* * *

><p><strong>In the end, everything goes back to the necromancer. If Judas never arrived, Flandre would be a-okay and Meiling would have never gone on her adventure. However, this also means that she would have never found Venus and Orci Mundis would have eaten Gensokyo. Not only that, but she'd never find love in the form of a…whatever word it is that Azure uses to describe Suika, tsu-something. What does that word mean anyway? The Orci Persona arc, if I'm guessing right, is roughly 13-halfway done at this point. That means that Poisonous Chinese Tea may be coming to an end! T_T this news saddens me, but I will write a sequel for certain. I already know what'd happen.**

** In Poisonous Chinese Tea, somebody from the human world got gapped into Gensokyo. In the sequel (speculated name: Teahouse in China) TWO people will get gapped from Gensokyo to the human world! Just imagine what kind of trouble Suika could cause in our world…I'll have fun writing that sequel!**


	27. Chapter 27: MaskBearer of Grand Origin

**Shit is heating up in this chapter…not literally or else the story would smell really bad. GED courses are going great so far, and I'll be out of there before Thanksgiving starts. Not only that, but I learned that I'm applicable for social security because of my autism (or something) so I'd like to try and get that done as soon as I can. You didn't think I had a mental thing? Go look up the song Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence by Dream Theater. It's rather long but it will more than get my point across while providing an excellent 40 minutes of epic music.**

* * *

><p>Meiling carried Mokou with her back to the Scarlet Devil Mansion; she saw the power of this thing firsthand so she'd be able to give them plenty of information on what they were up against. Now Meiling, along with Keine, Suika, and Mokou, joined Judas and Patchouli in Voile. "Alright," Meiling said. "What do you know about Orci Persona?"<p>

Mokou reached into her pocket, until she saw a stern face on Patchouli that said that this was a non-smoking area. "Orci Persona…is that the mask thing that just _destroyed_ the entire human village?"

"Sadly, yes. How much do you know about it; what are its powers?" Mokou was clearly in no shape to fight Orci Persona again, and her friend Keine would probably stay here to watch over her. Judas would probably stay here in Voile to help Patchouli figure out what to do, and Patchouli would _certainly_ stay in Voile just because she was…well, Patchouli. That meant that the task would once again fall to Meiling and Suika to save the world. But even then, there was still the task of rebuilding the human village. Surely the humans would work hard on that, but Meiling felt obligated to help even if most of the human living there disliked youkai.

"It can grow tentacles out the back of itself, where a person's face would go. Plus it can make it rain; that's how it beat me. It's also very tough; I shot it as hard as I couldn't and didn't even scratch it."

"I think I can handle that part. Can you think of anything else, anything at all? And some kind of weakness would be nice if you know of one."

"I can't say that I do, I just told you everything I know. If you're going to fight him, can I ask you one favor?"

"I suppose. What's bugging you?"

"Give him a hard punch from Fujiwara no Mokou, will ya? Let him know it was me, too, I want him pissed at me."

"Why do you want something that powerful mad at you?" Meiling couldn't figure out the minds of some people, and Mokou had just proven herself to be such a person. Another person that met this condition was the oni she loved, who she turned to and asked "Are you coming along, Suika?"

"Yes! I can't -hic- just let you fight him alone, -hic- can I? I may be wasted on sake, but -hic- I still have morals." Suika began stumbling out of Voile with a big drunken grin spread across her face like usual as she began walking out with a purple gourd in hand. Days and nights filled with sake were pleasant to her, and she was probably quite strange that she found a sake-drinking contest with Meiling romantic. But of course, everybody in Gensokyo was a bit crazy, possibly because of the magical energies that had been residing in the air for a very long time now. Still, beneath that drunken happiness her subconscious mind was worrying. Judas never went into exact details about what kind of powers the demon beneath the Scarlet Devil Mansion had, but he did say that it could be herself or Meiling. Did that mean it would posses somebody? Suika didn't want to have to attack Meiling if that was the case. She wouldn't bring herself to be able to do it! On the other hand of that, what if it would posses her? She didn't know anybody capable of stopping an oni; not even Reimu could stop Suika if her full potential was put behind everything she did. She would probably forget it later, but she made a mental note that she _had_ to ask Judas about some details on the thing beneath the mansion. This was a very serious situation, almost enough to make her stop drinking until it was resolved…almost.

"Suika!" Meiling had been trying to get Suika's attention for a while now; it was rare that Suika was in such deep thought, or even shallow thought. "Did all that sake finally drown the last of your brain cells or what?"

"Sorry, -hic- what?"

"You've been following me all this time, but you weren't responding when I tried to talk to you. I was trying to tell you that we found Orci Persona, and I was going to ask if you were ready to fight him. Remember, I'll be right there with you however tough things get."

"And -hic- I'm not backing down as long as you're in the fight. Let's go kick -hic- some ass." Suika looked through some trees of the forest that she'd subconsciously followed Meiling to, and saw it just sitting there. Exactly the same as how they left it; a mask without a body or anything unique for that matter. Were Meiling and Mokou even talking about the same Orci Persona, or were there two of them? Something wasn't right, that was obvious even to Suika. There was no body of tentacles, no fire, no rain; absolutely nothing that Mokou had mentioned. "Is the Orci Persona we're looking for -hic- the same Orci Persona as the one that burned down the human village?"

"There's only one Orci Persona, Suika. I'm also confused…but this isn't where we left that thing earlier, so something's not right here." Meiling had to take a deeper look into this. She took a few careful steps up toward the mask, and stopped when she was within arm's length of it. Her breath was now coming difficult like it would to a person when something that was trying to kill them was searching for them and was nearby. But Meiling wasn't in such a situation, right? It was just a mask, that was all. But when Meiling reached to pick it up to investigate on that very idea, she was proven horribly wrong. The same whip-like tentacles that were on the body of that child that Judas burned shot out of the back of the mask, just like Mokou had said. The tentacles wrapped around the back of Meiling's head, and the mask lifted itself off of the ground, pulling itself toward Meiling's face with the tentacles. "Suika, help me!" It happened so suddenly that it nearly gave Meiling a heart attack, and since she was beginning to understand this thing's plan, she still was about to have that heart attack.

_That's my cue!_ Suika literally ran through the trees that were in her way, tearing quite a few of them down since she couldn't walk straight, much less run straight. When she got there, she reared back a fist to deliver an oni's strongest punch, but was knocked back into a tree by a much larger tentacle. Could this thing make tentacles in different sizes? Just what kind of monster was it? Suika got back up while Meiling did all she could to push the mask away, running at it again. Once again she was knocked away by a massive tentacle, only to do the same thing and take the same hit again. She wouldn't let anything slow her down until she stopped this thing from taking over Meiling's body, because she didn't know if it was possible to separate them and keep the host alive. "Meiling, just -hic- hang in there!"

"Suika, get out of here! Run!"

"I'm not running!"

"Just do it!" The mask was mere inches from her face; Meiling was getting overpowered by this thing and she didn't know how much longer she could hold out against it. "Not as Meiling the youkai, but as Meiling the woman you love I'm begging you to get out of here and tell everybody what happened!"

"I promised I'd stay!" Not only that, Suika couldn't just leave Meiling like this, even if the Chinese youkai herself was begging her to. Suika couldn't decide. An oni always stuck to their promises and never _ever_ abandoned anybody or anything if they said they wouldn't. But on the other hand, Meiling was holding out for as long as she could so that she could warn Suika and tell her to run away.

"I don't have time for this, Suika, just go!"

"Promise me you'll be okay."

"I promise. Now go, tell everybody."

"Okay. I love you." Suika turned in the other direction, and began running some more. If her mind wasn't pretty much blown out between drinking so much sake and having to have made such a difficult decision, it would have occurred to her that flying was faster, but she had no time to think about something like that. Meiling was depending on her, and she wouldn't let her down.

"Thank you." Meiling stopped her resisting, and let the mask that was Orci Persona attach itself to her face. With that, she was now Orci Persona herself. As soon as she began falling under the mask's control, she could feel herself losing control of every inch of her body, as well as losing control of her conscious thoughts. For all intents and purposes, she wasn't going to be Hong Meiling until that mask was removed from her face, whether that leave the girl alive or dead.

It took quite a bit of running, but eventually Suika was at the gates of the Scarlet Devil Mansion, but she was crying. She knew that Zabi wouldn't mind her going in, but the gatekeeper couldn't do much about it anyway since the snake youkai had to stay indoors for the winter months. So the oni walked in as usual, to be greeted by the vampire mistress who appeared to be expecting her. "Hi."

"What's wrong, Suika? And where's Meiling?" _Please don't say she's dead…please don't say she's dead! Say anything else, say that all her bones are broken, just not that she's dead!_

"Orci Persona got her."

"No…she can't be dead!"

"What! No, she's -hic- under its control. She told me to tell everybody here about it so that we could figure out -hic- what to do or something."

"I see. Follow me, we're going to see Patchouli and Judas, I think they'll know what to do."

"Alright."

* * *

><p>Could she even be called Meiling anymore? It was still her name, but she was Orci Persona now. As she walked into the smoldering ruins of the human village, a few scattered survivors looked at her with their children close at hand. It wasn't rare knowledge that she wasn't human, and after that masked creature came through, a youkai came through wearing the exact same mask. That alone was putting the people on edge, and a few could be heard crying, mostly children. "How much do any of you know about Orci Mundis?"<p>

"Orci Mundis," one of the male survivors said. "Yeah, he was that world-eating monster that tried sucking up Gensokyo not long ago. At first I figured it was my witch of a daughter who killed him, but then I started hearing it was somebody else, even from Marisa herself."

"Oh really? And what, sir, is your name?"

"You're not even human, so to you I'm Mr. Kirisame."

"I'm afraid not. To me, you're a dead man." Meiling stretched an arm in Mr. Kirisame's direction and shot out a tentacle that had a very sharp tip, impaling the man with one of the most deadly weapons she had. "Goodbye. You are incorrect, Orci Mundis was never killed by a resident of this world; the buffoon killed himself by trying to come here sooner than I told him to. Does anybody know _why_ I wanted him to come later? Whoever answers correctly, you _might_ leave here alive unlike this man."

* * *

><p><strong>Imagine how Marisa's gonna react when she learns what just happened. I already prepared the end of this arc, so we KNOW that it's coming soon now. Sadly, this means that it's too late to give me any new villain ideas. On the upper hand, this means I can write the sequel sooner (and hopefully it'll get more devoted readers than this one, right Azure?) and have a bit of a self-insert help out our chesty China-chan and the tsurupettan oni.<strong>

**Also Azure, you still never told me wtf tsurupettan even means...**

**Oh, final note. I meant to add this but must have forgot. Many writers are afraid to hurt their main character. There are certainly plenty who don't mind emotional harm (as I have demonstrated) but I don't know of any writers who will openly let their main character take physical harm like Meiling has a few times in this story. I am certainly different, yes?**


	28. Chapter 28: The Thing Under the Mansion

**The Orci Persona arc ends here. With that, the final arc of Poisonous Chinese Tea begins, and this time the enemy is something much larger than anything Meiling has ever faced before, even worse than her dream battle with the Taisui Xingjun. Indeed, Entity X (whose real name is Enigma) makes even Orci Persona look weak in comparison. I will list his powers at my end-of-chapter notes for you.**

* * *

><p>Judas was sitting across a table from Patchouli, the two of them still trying to figure out a way to keep the monster under the mansion locked up for at least enough time to figure out a way to kill it. Of all the infinite magical knowledge the two had, they were still coming up with nothing at all. Koakuma had been acting as a double familiar for the two magicians, and she'd been trying to figure out a way to ask Patchouli to let her become Judas's permanent familiar. "Here's that book the two of you wanted," the red-haired succubus said. "Do either of you have any ideas at all yet?"<p>

"I'm afraid not," Judas said. "I have no doubt that in general, Patchouli is much smarter than I am, but I'm nearly unsurpassed in the dark arts. Even with that, every conclusion we come to is proven wrong by the nature of the demon under this mansion."

"That's too bad. I hope you two find out the answers you want soon. Is there anything else you need?"

"This will do for now, thank you." Judas was certainly changing. Going from planning to torture Meiling eternally, to asking for her help, to giving _her _help and having no objections to it at all…he was surely a different necromancer from before. When Judas heard the doors of Voile open, his head turned in the direction. He didn't need to anyway; necromancers could recognize a vampire from a mile away. "Hello, Lady Remilia. I hope you bring good news."

"Everything but," the vampire said. "Meiling's been possessed by Orci Persona. Suika doesn't know where she is right now, but I figured that if anybody could find the two, you could."

"Indeed I can. Patchouli knows this is true, that magic always leaves traces. That is why the very air in Gensokyo feels different from that of other worlds, because its residents use such large amounts of magic that all of the world's air is filled with traces of magic. Dark magic, however, leaves much stronger traces, especially easy to follow if you use such magic like I myself do. Suika, if you can lead me to where this all happened I can do everything in my power to find them."

"Follow -hic- me!" Suika quickly ran out of Voile, retracing her steps so that she could get out of the mansion. If Judas could help, she would accept that help; she wanted to save Meiling as soon as possible. Eventually, though, she got lost in the hallways. The oni drunkenly turned to the human following her, and said "I'm -hic- lost. How do we get out?"

"Follow me, Suika." Judas turned in the direction opposite the one Suika was going, and continued this running around the mansion with an oni following him.

* * *

><p>There were no survivors at all. Every man woman and child living in the human village was dead, all of it because of this demonic thing attaching itself to Meiling's face. She wanted to scream, and she wanted to tear the mask to pieces, but it controlled her body now rather than the rightful owner of that body. There was nothing she could do but stand by idly and watch her body kill innocent people. But off in the distance, her ears were picking up on footsteps. She heard two sets of feet, one of them being a man's. Whoever it was, they would stand no chance as they were. <em>Then let them come. I can defeat all the greatest beings in Gensokyo simultaneously because my power is so great. Nothing will stop me from doing what Mundis couldn't. <em>Then out the corner of her eye, Meiling could see an oni approaching her. _Yes, come and meet your doom. Allow me to break my host's heart one more time._

"Suika," Judas said. "I have to return to the mansion. I won't be long, but there's an errand I have to run and it's very urgent."

"Okay." Suika approached the possessed Meiling carefully. Everybody else would have said she was just too drunk to know better, but she knew that Meiling was still in there, deep down. "Meiling," she cautiously said. "Meiling, if -hic- you can hear me, please come out. Everybody -hic- needs you...I need you."

The eyes of the mask seemed to give off an expression similar to a normal person's eyes suddenly going wide in surprise or shock, and a hand reached out to the upper-right edge of the mask. Meiling began pulling as hard as she could, trying to separate herself from this monster…this hideous thing that had placed an unfixable sin on her soul; a beast that made her murder innocent people, including children. "S-S…Suika…" The region of the mask where her hand was pulling began to crack. "Suika…I'm coming…for you." Eventually, the cracks covered the whole upper-right quarter of the mask. One could see the veins in Meiling's entire arm bulging from the strain the two opposing forces were putting on the one limb. The next sound that filled all sets of ears sounded akin to a massive glass object shattering into countless pieces. The mask was destroyed…partially. The upper-right portion of it was gone, and Meiling's right eye was even visible now, but it was yellow just like the mask's, with the same green iris and all. "Suika…run."

The oni refused to run this time. Instead, she tackled the Meiling without caring to think about whether she was possessed or not anymore. "What's your name?"

"My name is Hong Meiling."

The oni hugged the tackled girl tightly, saying "Welcome back. I was really scared -hic- the whole time, you know."

"Oh…I know." Under the remaining ¾ of the mask, a large smile worked across the face underneath. It wasn't a happy smile, however. This was a smile that was reserved for the most wicked of evildoers. "I know you love me, Suika, but I can't get up with you pinning me down."

"Oh, ya." Suika let go of the person she tackled, and got up to her feet. "Alright, since this is over…where -hic- do we go next?"

"We go our separate ways. I'm going all over Gensokyo to finish my job, but you…" From all over Meiling's body, countless tentacles shot out, wrapping themselves around each of Suika's individual limbs. "You're going to be sent to Hell after I torture you for a little bit."

"No, Meiling, it's me!"

"I know who it is, but my name isn't Meiling. I'm still Orci Persona as sad as that is for you. The only way to destroy me is to destroy this mask, and besides that the only thing that will ever separate me from my host is if she dies." Small tentacles of different colors began growing from the edge of the removed part of the mask, tentacles that attached themselves to the rest of the mask and pulled the broken piece onto the remainder, at which point the mask became whole again by the dark powers of Orci Persona. "And destroying my mask is very difficult."

"So…Meiling's gonna die?" Suika could feel her eyes welling up. They'd done so much together, and it was going to end like this? Because of something that Suika had done, nonetheless? "…Go ahead…kill me."

"Are you gonna cry? Wait…you _want_ me to kill you?"

"Meiling is gonna die…so -sniff- just do it."

"This is rare indeed. I think I'll have a bit of fun with you before I kill you." The tentacles that wrapped up Suika's individual arms and legs began pulling those limbs outward, but not straining the oni's body in the least. From the back of Meiling's head came one large tentacle. "This big one's gonna 'open the path' for me. I deserve a bit of 'fun time' for myself every now and again, and despite your lack of a chest I think you'll be more than satisfying. Though now I regret not taking _your _body…this host has such an amazing body that she'd be much better on the receiving end of this."

Suika just hung her head down, closed her eyes, and waited. She'd always wanted to really get to know Meiling a bit better, but she never imagined or wanted it to happen like this. Instead of a night of fun, she was going to get raped by an evil mask possessing the person she loved most in the world…that was far too cruel to be arranged by fate or anything else.

A gloved hand shot forward, aimed at the mask covering Meiling's face, and fired a large blast of green flames. The task fell to Judas to once again save Meiling and Suika from this horrible creature. This time, though, he intended to kill it. Sure, he'd done plenty of naughty things with Koakuma, and even did a few to this very day behind Patchouli's back, but Koakuma was willing and acceptant of what Judas proposed. Even he had _some_ morals, he just needed some kind of direction to find them. Now he had, and Judas Nekross was a changed man from the time that he conspired to conquer Gensokyo. He hit his target directly in the center, and he watched the hellish flames course across the mask's entire body for a second before the demonic accessory exploded into countless shards and Meiling fell to the ground as the tentacles coming out of her body turned to dust.

"Judas," Meiling weakly asked. "What did you do?"

"I'm sorry for draining your energy, but it had to be done to kill Orci Persona. Anyway, we have much bigger problems at the moment. _Much_ bigger problems."

"How much bigger?"

"Big enough to make me want to leave Gensokyo. The beast living inside the mansion is free."

"Of all the days in the world, it _had_ to be today. Well, we've been patient so can you at least tell us its real name?"

"Very well…it's name is exactly what it is. The demon is named Enigma. I evacuated the Scarlet Devil Mansion and have been trying to find other people who would be potentially dangerous if Enigma reached them, but we need to hide the two of you away so that your wounds can heal."

Suika lifted her head off the ground, and slurred "We'll go -hic- to Former Hell. Follow me." Suika picked Meiling up off the ground, and began running.

"Lead on, oni." Judas quickly followed, intending to explain once they arrived.

* * *

><p>By the time the trio was in Former Hell, things were already feeling bad up above. Just before they began getting to the underworld, they could feel this haunting presence, as though some larger entity was trying to reach out to them. "Thank you, Ms. Hoshiguma, for letting us stay here until this is resolved."<p>

"Don't mention it! Suika's my friend, and I thought I already told you that my name was Yuugi, _not_ Ms. Hoshiguma." Yuugi looked at Suika's limbs. While at first glance one would say that there's nothing wrong with her, something wasn't right. Judas had confirmed it earlier, that there was a lot of leftover dark magic lingering on the flat-chested oni's body, but Yuugi didn't know what that would do to her. "So, Judas, what's gonna happen to Suika if we don't get rid of this dark magic?"

"Many things. It'd start with an itch, followed by a numbing sensation, then progress to darkening of the skin, loss of conscious body control, mutation, and eventually death. I think I speak on behalf of all of us when I say that we don't want that. Sadly, I'm not so great at removing dark magic remains and if I try, it's very possible that I may actually speed up the process."

"What about the people up in Gensokyo," Meiling asked. "Can't Reimu or Sanae do something about this?"

"It's probably too late to try and contact them. Enigma is free, and the only people that I know are safe are all the people in Former Hell. Enigma's greatest weakness is that he can't go underground, which is why I originally sealed him in the lowest pits of Hell."

"So we're supposed to just stand aside and let Suika die!"

* * *

><p><strong>Here's that power list I promised you…<strong>

** Enigma is a terrifying being. It has the ability to copy the form and abilities of any person it encounters (which is why I got rid of Flandre at the end of the Orci Mundis arc I suppose) and is able to summon any number of bat familiars. These bats can attach themselves to people and take over their mind and body in a similar fashion to how Orci Persona possessed whoever wore the mask. Considering this, it's plausible that Meiling's enemy this time is just about everybody in Gensokyo.**

** Also, see what I did there at the end? I've left you in doubt about whether or not Suika will live to see the end of this story. I'd tell you if she lives or not, but then you are no longer in doubt of whether she lives**


	29. Chapter 29: Hong Meiling Vs the World

** Anybody get the reference with the chapter's name? If you do, there are (sadly) no evil exes involved in the story, but it was a good chance to make the reference. Yukari also makes an amazing reference in this chapter, and this one is special because it's the only one where none of the main protagonists (which for some reason includes Judas) appear at all, though Enigma mentions them at the end. This means that Judas has explained everything off-screen (off-page?) obviously, as I usually have him or Patchy do when something big and long is happening elsewhere.**

* * *

><p>At the Scarlet Devil Mansion's front doors, Enigma stood proudly. He was a tall creature with massive bat wings instead of arms, and possessed large bat ears and a face to match. His only human trait was his legs that were covered by a deep red garb that covered the entire lower half of his body. His skin was brown and leathery and he had midnight-colored hair that reached his shoulders. His wings were spread out wide, and from them an insurmountable number of small bats were flying out. <em>Fly, my children. Take this world and make it our own. Whosoever you may capture, take it upon yourself to do so and return to me the most powerful of beings in this realm.<em> Enigma watched the countless bat familiars fly out, and could already feel that many had found somebody to control, though most were fairies. They scattered in every direction, the ones with hosts flying alongside their hostless brethren. _Do not fail me._

* * *

><p>Mokou had recuperated from her wounds, and was looking at the remains of the human village. She decided to leave Keine alone, as she was in the leftovers of the school crying for the children that were killed by the ruthless monster that had rampaged through here. Mokou still couldn't believe her eyes. To think that one being could cause this much damage in the course of a single day was simply astounding to her. Then the sky began to grow dark. "Keine," Mokou said. "If you need a place to stay, you can live with me for a while." But when she looked closer, that wasn't night or clouds filling the sky…it was bats! Countless bats were descending upon the human village, and Mokou lit herself aflame. She'd kill them all if they dared to come near this village! All the fire on her body channeled through her arms and shot forward in a massive blast, wiping out thousands of them. "This is easy!" She spoke too soon. One got her from behind on the back of her neck, and she tried hard to reach it but she couldn't. "Keine, get this thing off me!" Too late. The bat's conscious was already flowing through Mokou, taking over the owner's conscious to make room for a bat's.<p>

Keine ran out of the school to try and help Mokou, but she too was taken down, only by a small swarm of them. The very last thing she could see before she lost consciousness was Mokou, just staring at her with a lifeless expression on her face as though she didn't even recognize her friend. "Mokou…"

* * *

><p>The Moriya Shrine was filled with noise, but it wasn't noise made by the three residents. Both the tengu and the kappa were in full-blown panic at this sudden swarm of bats that seemed to take over the bodies of others. Many were taking shelter in the shrine itself, and soon there wasn't much elbow room left. Suwako and Kanako stood outside boldly, intending to get rid of each and every bat that appeared. "So," Suwako cheerfully said. "Once this is over we should go swimming."<p>

"It's the middle of winter, Suwako."

"So? Swimming still sounds fun, right?"

"I suppose…" Kanako really had trouble understanding Suwako sometimes. And to think that Suwako was the real goddess of this shrine perplexed Kanako's mind even more.

"I see some!" Suwako began creating large boulders, shooting them out at the bats. Kanako seemed to have a more direct approach, flying up to them and smashing them with the pillars of faith attached to her back. "Wow," Suwako called to her friend. "You look a bit like Hisou Tensoku right now, you know that?"

"Please be quiet," Kanako called back. "This isn't easy for me in the least. Could you give me a hand over here? Suwako!"

"Help is on the way!" Suwako turned toward Kanako and began firing boulders in her general direction, aiming for the bats. Turning was a mistake she would soon regret. One of the bats caught her by the back of her neck. "Kanako, they got me!" Suwako struggled to pull the bat off her back before it was too late, but it already was. She was under Enigma's control now, as she lifelessly reached out to open the doors to the Moriya Shrine. Even the permanent smile and life-filled eyes that once decorated her face were gone, replaced by a blank expression that showed no emotion whatsoever. Once the shrine doors were open, her onslaught of boulders continued, only this time her target was Kanako.

Between the bats and now the boulders, Kanako stood no chance at all. Even for a goddess, her power wasn't infinite and one of the boulders hit her hard on the back, causing a bat to lodge itself onto the side of her head. "This can't be happening!" Now she too was going to be under the control of the bats, and thus under the control of Enigma.

* * *

><p>"Komachi, how many times to I need to tell you to stop slacking off!" Shikieiki wasn't pleased in the least that her subordinate had suddenly stopped work altogether. Before she would at least guide one soul every now and again, but now Komachi just stood there, staring at the river while countless souls just stood and waited to be ferried across. "Komachi! Are you even listening!"<p>

The Sanzu River guide turned to face Shikieiki, but her face was lifeless. Attached to her rather large chest was a bat, as she emotionlessly said "You are no longer my superior. I am answering to a different being now. Soon, you will answer to him as well."

Shikieiki was shocked. Komachi never spoke like that, disrespectfully _or_ lifelessly. "Komachi?" Behind her, the many souls that had yet to be ferried were thrown into complete pandemonium and panic. The yama turned around to see what was going on, but sooner than she could blink a swarm of bats had closed in on her. With no time to defend herself, one of them bit her deeply in her leg. "Komachi, help me!"

"I am answering to a different being now. Soon, you will answer to him as well."

"Komachi!"

* * *

><p>"Help me, Eirin!" Kaguya ran back into Eientei as fast as she could. Not long ago, Reisen had finally convinced the Lunarian princess to step outside, but when she did all she saw were countless bats filling up the bamboo forest, so she ran back in a panic. "Eirin!" Kaguya slammed the doors to Eientei shut, her heart beating faster than most hearts would be able to without exploding. "Eirin, where are you!" This had decided it; Kaguya wasn't stepping outside for a very <em>very <em>long time. "Eirin!"

Eirin stuck her head out from behind a corner, and said "I'm sorry, I'm trying to help everybody else right now. You know I'd get right to you first thing, but just about everybody's been bitten by a bat and I can't get the bats off."

"Please, Eirin! There's a bunch of bats out there!"

"Were you bitten?"

"Well…no."

"Then there's nothing to worry about." Eirin turned back to the countless patients that were everybody in Eientei besides herself and Kaguya, and jumped back a good deal. "Reisen, put that down! You don't know what drinking that could do to you!"

"It isn't for me," Reisen flatly stated. "It is not for anybody yet. Tewi, go open the doors so that we may progress."

"As you wish," Tewi said with an equal lack of feeling. The smaller rabbit dragged herself right past Eirin and Kaguya, and re-opened the doors of Eientei, letting in a massive swarm of bats.

Kaguya started running down the hall as fast as she could, screaming "Help me, Eirin!" But when she turned around, Eirin had already fallen victim to the swarm. "Somebody please help me!"

* * *

><p>Reimu kept the doors of the Hakurei Shrine shut tightly. Her intuition was telling her something terrible was happening, and she wasn't going to let anybody in no matter what they said. She didn't even care if it was Marisa or Alice coming to have a nice conversation, nobody was getting in this shrine and nobody was getting out. She even went so far as to go behind the shrine and bring Genjii inside. "What do you think, Genjii?"<p>

"I think something horrible is happening, m'lady. I saw a massive swarm of bats before you told me to come inside. Should we investigate?"

"No. For once, I'm _not _going out there."

Behind the miko and turtle, Yukari gapped herself into the shrine, seemingly out of breath. "Hello, Reimu…hello, Genjii. It's been a long time, hasn't it?"

"What do you want, Yukari?"

"Ran and Chen got bitten by these bat-things and then they just turned and tried to kill me! I wanted to fight back, but I didn't want to hurt them so I came here. What about you?"

"I'm avoiding those bats. Something tells me that nothing good is going to come of them at all, so I'm doing everything to keep them out there and me in here."

"You've met with a terrible fate, haven't you?"

"What?"

"Oh sorry, wrong protagonist."

"What are you talking about?"

"If I tried to explain, it'd only confuse you, Reimu. So, what _are _we going to do?"

"Well, first off-" Then a loud crash was heard as a massive laser that Reimu knew all too well tore the shrine building in half. "Marisa! What the hell are you doing!"

"I am searching on behalf of my new master…ze."

"New master?" Then she saw it on Marisa's forehead, a small bat had lodged itself into her body. _Shit._

* * *

><p>Around a fairy in a blue dress, many bats were turning to ice and falling to the ground. "Yes, I'm the strongest! I can take you all on at once!" Cirno was having a blast turning these bats into ice and watching them shatter when they hit the ground. Shoot ice this way and they froze, shoot ice that way and more froze, every shot froze many bats. That was why she was doing so great, because her shots were affecting lots of bats at once. "I'm the strongest," she kept singing to herself. "I'm the strongest, I'm the strongest, I'm the strongest!" One of the bats almost reached her, but she turned and shot ice at that bat and froze him too. "You can't stop me, I'm the strongest in all of Gensokyo!" Just as she said that, two fairies jumped out of the bushes. Both of them had bats attached to the top of their heads, and Cirno looked at them. "You dummies have bats on your heads, why not take them off?" In exchange for her comment, the ice fairy received silence and two fairies approaching her slowly. "Hey, what's wrong with you two?"<p>

"We are under the same being's wings as the bats you have so recklessly frozen. Soon, you will join us."

"Wha?" Cirno kept freezing the bats around her until the fairies leapt at her, tackling her and pinning her down. "Get off me! I can't get these bats if you're pinning me down!"

"You will join us."

"No!" Cirno felt something bite her forehead, and looked up to see that one of the bats got her. "I'm stronger than that!" She was proven wrong; Cirno was already beginning to lose control of her body.

* * *

><p>Enigma looked at some of the other people his familiars had taken. Among them were a puppeteer, a youkai who controlled flowers, a tengu reporter, and countless others. However, his search stopped at a vampire with blue medium-length hair. "You," he said. "Who are you?"<p>

"I am Remilia Scarlet," she blankly said. "What do you need from me?"

"There were others living in this mansion. With your vampiric instinct, finding them should be easy. The only two we've missed are a Chinese youkai and a necromancer. You may assemble a team of five that you find suitable for this mission and then find the missing two, as well as their oni friend."

"Yes, my master."

* * *

><p><strong>In short, if they weren't in Former Hell, Enigma has captured them for his own use. Did any of you catch the reference Yukari made? Since she controls all boundaries, I might give her a token appearance in a fanfic for that game series (not saying it so that if you didn't get the reference you have to look it up) as soon as I can figure out what I wanna do with that fanfic. Given Orci Persona's base model for many things, something about the moon falling down comes to mind<strong>


	30. MISSING CHAPTER: Arming the Oni

**As I was re-reading this fanfic, I noticed that one chapter was missing. This struck me as odd, so I looked again. Yep, you were probably wondering how and when Suika got a demon arm, and possibly a few other little questions, so I've uploaded the "missing chapter" to fix this. This should be considered a Chapter 29.5 and if I had to name it, I'd call it Arming the Oni.**

* * *

><p>"Meiling," Suika said, sounding a bit scared for herself for once. "I can't feel -hic- my arms."<p>

"Judas, dammit, how do we fix this!"

"I can only think of one way with my lack of removal abilities. The best thing I could do is move all of the dark magic to one part of her body and lock it all there. But, the outcome is impossible to predict, even by me. It's entirely up to Suika."

"Let -hic- me think about this…" It was certainly up to her, as Judas had just said it himself. For once, her mind was thinking seriously about something. On one hand, she could let him do his thing and see what happened. According to how he explained the process earlier, it would either mutate part of her body or kill her. Her only other option was to sit there with no sensation in any of her limbs and let all four of them mutate and then let herself die. Suika wasn't one for just letting herself die. "…Do it."

"Suika," Meiling said. "You don't have to go through with this."

"Yes I do. If I don't, -hic- I'll die for sure. If we do this, there's at least -hic- only a chance that I'll die. Have faith in my choice, okay?"

"If you say so, Suika. I'll be right here."

"Alright," Judas said. "Where do you want me to put the dark energy?"

"My right -hic- arm, that way the worst thing I lose is an arm if anything. I just don't want -hic- to let myself die."

"Very well. Just remember, Suika, that there are some things far worse than death." Judas put both his hands on Suika's right arm, and concentrated. Transferring dark energy wasn't easy business even if you were an expert in all forms of magic, and Judas had to focus harder than he had in quite a while. The dark energy became visible while Judas worked on moving it; it looked like a thin black mist covering all of Suika's limbs. "Now that I can see it, time to move it." Judas focused even harder, and to the amazement of Yuugi and Meiling, the mist began moving itself to Suika's right arm where Judas's hands were. Then the black mist surrounding Suika pulsated a few times as Judas formed a lock on the energy preventing it from leaking out of her arm to the rest of her. "That should do it. We'll see some reaction soon, so everybody stand back."

Suika watched everybody stand back a few steps, and suddenly sensation returned to all of her limbs. She could feel even her right arm again, though it didn't feel right. It felt…different then it ever had before. When she looked at her arm, she almost screamed. All down her arm, black scales were forming. "Meiling!"

Meiling ran to Suika's side, and looked at the oni's face, mostly to avoid looking at her arm. "Shhh, everything's going to be just fine. Just stay calm, take some deep breaths."

Suika could feel her arm changing. It hurt more than anything she could have imagined, and the oni was screaming very loudly with her eyes clamped shut in pain. "Meiling, it hurts," she sobbed.

Meiling held Suika's hand, saying "Squeeze my hand, it'll make your arm hurt less, Flandre."

"Flandre?"

"Flandre?" Was that really what she said? She just now remembered why.

* * *

><p><em>A few years ago, not long before the scarlet mist incident, Meiling was given a rare day off. She usually spent those days in the Scarlet Devil Mansion's basement so that she could be with Flandre, and she recalled that on one such day, Flandre had broken her arm.<em>

_When Meiling went down into the basement, she heard Flandre crying. "Flandre," she asked. "What's wrong?"_

_ "My arm hurts, Meiling."_

_ "Let me have a look at it." Meiling quickly went up to Flandre's side, and tried lifting the arm up so that she could see it, resulting in an ear-shattering scream from Flandre. "It's broken."_

_ "My arm broke! How do we fix it?" Flandre laid herself down on her bed, accidentally laying down on her broken arm, causing herself to jolt back up to her feet and scream even louder than before. "Meiling!"_

_ Meiling sat the younger sister down gently, with one hand rubbing her head and the other holding Flandre's good hand. "Shhh, everything's going to be just fine. Just stay calm, take some deep breaths."_

_ Flandre didn't like how her arm felt. It hurt more than anything she could have imagined, and the vampire was screaming very loudly with her eyes clamped shut in pain. "Meiling, it hurts," she sobbed._

_ Meiling held Flandre's hand, saying "Squeeze my hand, it'll make your arm hurt less, Flandre."_

_ Flandre squeezed Meiling's hand tightly, saying "It still hurts."_

_ "I know it does. Just hang tight for a bit, I'll go get Sakuya." Meiling didn't want to leave Flandre with a broken arm, but it'd be better to go get Sakuya and have her help than to just sit here and do nothing at all. Meiling went back up the stairs, and was surprised when she found Sakuya was right there. "Flandre's arm is broken," she said._

_ "Let me see what I can do."_

* * *

><p>"…Thank you, Sakuya."<p>

"Meiling? Are -hic- you okay?"

"Huh?" Meiling snapped back to reality when Suika asked if she was okay. "Y-Yeah, I'm okay now. Are you?"

"Well, not -hic- perfect…" Suika looked over at her newly-mutated right arm. It was almost as big as Suika herself, and each finger was tipped with a sharp talon. The scales that ran up her arm were very serrated, and it looked like even going an inch along those scales the wrong way would tear a person's hand apart. Not only that, Suika's head had grown a third horn just in front of the horn above her monstrous arm. To top off the mutation cake, her right eye wasn't its usual orange-brown color anymore, instead being a bloody red. "I've felt -hic- better before…and looked better -hic- before too."

"I think you're still beautiful."

"Really?"

"Yes, I'm saying that from the heart." To her, it was still the same Suika, just with a little modifications on her. It might have even helped later if at all possible. "You're still the same Suika Ibuki that I know and love."

"Wait," Yuugi said. "Did I just hear the word 'love' or not? Suika, I would have never guessed _you_ would settle down with somebody."

"Hey," the flat-chested oni said back. "Watch it, or -hic- I'll punch you with my new arm! I meant to ask earlier, how's -hic- everything with you and Parsee?"

"Not so well. She's been really distant lately, and she won't even talk to me anymore. I think she's planning on breaking up with me."

"Why would she -hic- leave you? If I was her, I'd stay with you forever! You treat -hic- her so well, and she's just -hic- going to leave you? Unacceptable!"

"Nah, it's okay. There's always more fish in the sea, and who knows what I might catch next?"

"I don't." Suika sat down, still trying to get used to her new arm. "But we still have to get -hic- up above and save Gensokyo. Meiling, any ideas?"

"None at the moment…Judas, do you have any wisdom on the topic?" But when Meiling asked, she noticed that the necromancer was gone. "Judas?"

Judas stood near the entrance of the tunnel that led to and from Former Hell. He had a plan to defeat Enigma, but it would be far from easy since the demon he was searching for could take on any form it wanted. Judas intended to summon forth a massive army of the dead and the demonic, and with it hunt down and kill Enigma. The laws of magic prevented a controlled being from being possessed by a second magic, so Judas's army would be immune to Enigma's bats. However, the powers of the people Enigma had taken would probably prove to be more than a match for Judas. That meant that it would all narrow down to who was better at commanding their armies. Already, countless corpses were burrowing their way out from under the ground as just as many ghosts materialized among those corpses. Demons began to fill the area between the undead and Judas, and he looked at his massive army. "Go," he said. "Defeat Enigma's entire army; show them no mercy." His entire army ran out, but just as quickly as they were there, all of them were fried by bolts of lightning. "What the hell!"

Kanako came down from the skies, and simply stared at Judas with the lifeless eyes that signified her lack of control. "You have been located. Nowhere is safe for you any longer, Judas. My master would very much like to speak with you."

It would be pointless to fight a goddess. "Fine. Take me to your leader." Judas followed alongside Kanako, looking at the bat attached to the side of her head. _I found you, you little beast._ Judas reached over ever-so-subtly, and as soon as he had the bat in his hand, yanked the bat off Kanako's head as hard as he could.

The goddess took a second to regain her composure once that happened. "What just happened?"

"You were controlled by a demon named Enigma. What's the last thing you remember?"

"I was defending the Moriya Shrine from a huge swarm of bats."

"Anybody there is under his control. Try to find somewhere safe, I have to return to my own hiding spot for now."

"You're a very strange human, you know that?"

"Indeed I am." Judas slammed the bat on the floor, and crushed it under his foot. He had to get back into Former Hell and talk to Meiling and Suika before he did anything like that again.

* * *

><p><strong>Isn't it strange that this vanished? I coulda sworn that I uploaded it too. This isn't a deleted scene, either, this was entirely canon with PCT so yeah. Also, for those who were either looking forward to or reading the sequel, I've given up on writing it. Sequels aren't my specialty and I can't write too well outside of Gensokyo<strong>


	31. Chapter 30: Arming the Troops Remastered

** Huzzah, another chapter! This one had a lot of Judas Priest in my ears during the writing process, and it's pretty badass if you ask me. Girls are now preparing, please watch warmly until it is ready, as ZUN would say it. I almost cleared IN today, but Reisen's spell cards always have me using bombs when I don't need to…damn lunacy powers! Anyway, I hope you enjoy reading this chapter as much as I enjoyed writing it.**

* * *

><p>"Judas, what the hell were you trying to do!" He had already explained what he was attempting, but Meiling wouldn't stand for it. "Are you trying to get yourself killed?"<p>

"Of course not. Although, you've given me a most wonderful idea…" Judas flipped through his grimoire, searching for a spell he used some time ago when he and Meiling were sworn enemies. "By becoming a lich, I could-"

"Not happening. Even if you've changed, I'm not trusting you if you become a lich again. No metamorphosis of any sort, okay? It's bad enough that we had to mutate Suika's arm to keep her alive, I'm not letting you change as well. Am I clear about that?"

"Perfectly." Judas stood up, and looked at Suika's arm. "It's taken on a demon form. You're lucky that it was only your arm, Suika; demonic magic spreads like the plague. Even I don't like tampering with that kind of stuff…you should consider yourself very lucky that you're even alive."

"I do," the oni said. "I'm -hic- very lucky! I survived the magic, and -hic- I still have Meiling right by my side."

"You know, I could remove that magic sometime if you want. It wouldn't be good for anybody or anything near you, but if it was done, the sheer amount of magic unleashed could…"

"Could? Could -hic- what, Judas?"

"Could kill Enigma." Judas looked at the streets of Former Hell. He didn't want to stay down here for long. Sure, it was a fun city but it wasn't his kind of city much. "We have to get up there. Suika, we could gather an entire army of oni down here!"

"Yes! We'll -hic- take the fight to the big guy himself! I'll start gathering everybody in Former Hell, I'm good at gathering -hic- you know."

"Bring them to the bridge. We'll be heading out soon." Judas watched the oni obediently run off, intent on gathering everybody in Former Hell to hear what would become the war speech to rival any that would ever be made in Gensokyo. Judas knew that the oni's only weakness was fried beans, so it was plausible that if a particular oni was strong enough, they could prevent the bats Enigma creates from taking over their minds. The entire plan was already formulating in his head. It was certain that this would end where it all began: the Scarlet Devil Mansion. He had to do this alongside Meiling and Suika otherwise they'd walk in without even knowing what they were up against. Enigma wasn't the kind to fight personally, but given how many people were in Gensokyo he would probably do it since there were going to be so many different identities at his disposal. Suika's army of oni, Judas's army of the dead, and Meiling the one-woman Chinese army would combine their might to become the most powerful force Gensokyo would ever know. As Judas walked toward the bridge, thoughts such as those were the ones that plagued his mind.

* * *

><p>After some waiting, Judas stood before thousands of oni. If Suika's own power was any indication, this was already an unstoppable army. Clearing his throat, he prepared himself to deliver the greatest speech he ever would give. "Oni of Former Hell, I come to all of you with a mission, and a cause. The mission: we will go above into Gensokyo and exterminate the demon that has turned the world into his own mass of slaves. The cause: one of your own, Suika Ibuki, is depending on all of you. She believes in you, otherwise she would have never said to bring all of you here. I believe in you all as well, otherwise I wouldn't have assembled you here. As a necromancer, I'll supplement this army with an army of my own creation, and we will give Gensokyo its people back. With the dead arising from their graves and the countless oni arising from Former Hell, an unstoppable army will come out from the underworld. They do not know your weakness, but we know theirs! On the body of every person in the enemy army is a bat. Removing that bat will free the person, and with that we will tip the scales even further in our favor. This fight will fight itself if you band together like I hope you will, like you did so long ago when you were given this land for keeping the lingering spirits in check. Are you with me, or are you with an enslaved world's master?"<p>

For a moment, all of the oni were silent. At the front of the crowd, next to the tsurupettan oni that brought them all here, was Yuugi. She believed that it would work. "I'm with you," she shouted. "I'm with you all the way! Suika is with you, too! You've got the Four Devas on your side!"

"Where are the other two?"

"They died."

"In that case…" Judas raised his hands into the air, and focused. Resurrecting a long-dead oni was something he'd never done before, much less two. The ground at his sides began to crack a bit, as he continued focusing hard for this spell that he never planned on actually using when he wrote it down. But eventually, two decayed oni popped out of the ground, standing beside Judas. "It may as well be four if you claim it to be four." This was only temporary, and Judas's power wasn't infinite so they'd give in eventually. For now, though, it'd be great to have two more oni on his side. "Who else is with me?" Suddenly, the entire crowd burst into cheerful shouts that claimed that they'd help Judas and Meiling in taking back Gensokyo. "Now that you're with me, we need to do some crafting. We'll need armor and weapons for everybody here. I'll make my own, but everybody needs their own so for the best results, do it yourself." Judas watched all of the oni run down back to Former Hell to craft their own personal armor and weapons. Judas knew that among these oni, there were certainly a fair few talented in making their own weapons.

"So," Meiling said, being the only one left after all of the oni ran to make their armor and weapons besides Judas himself. "Looks like the big bad necromancer has a soft side."

"What soft side? I'm simply different than I used to be. People change, and I suppose being in Hell had me change my ways so I never have to endure it again. My armor and weapons are very easily created by magic, so I'll wait until the time is right to make it. As for you, I think you should have the oni make your armor for you, Meiling."

"I'm going to. But I feel like seeing your armor first."

"If you insist." This was one of the trickiest spells Judas ever used before, and it called upon the very being that was death itself. Starting at his feet, a black smoke began to conceal his body. Slowly, it started to climb up his body. "Feast your eyes upon the very essence of death, the bane of all life. I don't know why I didn't do this when you were my enemy; I was probably too cocky to do it." When the smoke began to clear, the first thing that was visible was his head. Covering his head and his back was a massive black hooded cloak that looked as old as time itself. As the rest of his body began to reveal itself, his armor impressed Meiling to say the least. Covering his chest were numerous plates of armor, and similar plates decorated his arms and legs. On his shoulders were two massive shoulder pads that greatly resembled skulls, and he now had an equally black belt with a skull buckle. On his back sat a massive scythe, made of a silver blade and a handle wrapped in old leather. "This is the embodiment of unlife, the messenger of death. For all intents and purposes, you may call me the Grim Reaper now, as this armor greatly amplifies magical power. As I am now, I can kill a human with just a thought. Sadly, it won't be that easy to win this war."

"It's…amazing. You look like a different person entirely. Just what the hell are you, Judas?"

"I'm a human necromancer. I thought you already knew that, foolish girl."

"Nobody likes a smartass. I'll have the oni make me some armor as well; I don't need any weapons other than myself and the use of chi." Meiling left Judas at the bridge, going back down to Former Hell to find Suika and have her own armor made.

When she got there, the whole place was in all-out production mode. Meiling passed several oni, some wearing armor already and some not, and some carrying weapons as well. The sheer energy behind this production was making her heart race. She'd never done anything this big before, and for a second she wasn't even sure if she could do it. Everybody's lives were on the line, and all of them depended on Suika. As she continued walking through the masses, she asked the others if they'd seen her. "Have you seen Suika?" "Is Suika around here?" "Can you tell me where Suika went?" None of them could help her out in finding her tsurupettan girlfriend. Until she got to Yuugi, at least. "Yuugi, do you know where Suika is?"

"Not off the top of my head, no."

"I see…thanks for trying."

"Hold on! When she lived here, she always went to the underground hot springs to think and relax in the hot water. To get there, just keep going straight down this street and you can't miss them."

"Thanks, Yuugi." She'd get her armor made after she found Suika. Meiling was walking against a current of people, and just getting down the street was complicated because of all the oni and their horns. Every now and again, she'd have to shove an oni or two around to get through the crowd, which resulted in an angered exclamation from whichever of the countless oni she was shoving. Meiling didn't pay attention to anything except the road ahead, not even stopping to look at the amazing architecture down there. When the crowd started vanishing, she knew she was getting closer. Eventually, she was out of the city and was just walking forward exactly like Yuugi had instructed. "Suika," she called. "Suika, where are you?"

Silence. It must have been further down, Meiling figured, so she kept walking on so that she could find who she was looking for.

* * *

><p>The truth was that Suika could hear her perfectly fine, but her mind was telling her that she had to be alone for a while. As she lowered herself into the hot spring to the point that she was mouth-deep in the water, she listened to Meiling continuously calling her name. Before long, those calls were gone, and the youkai was standing behind her. "Please," she said quietly. "Just…let me think alone for a bit."<p>

"Suika, what's wrong?"

"I don't know if I can do it."

"What?"

"Everybody out there…all of them are counting on me."

"Suika…are you _sober_?"

"Yeah. Meiling, everybody's risking their lives in the hopes that me, _one person_ can kill Enigma. I don't even know if I can go through with it…Meiling, this is scary." Suika wanted to retreat further into the steamy water, but if she did she'd be unable to breathe. Her arm was still massive and blackened, and she was fairly certain it'd stay like that until Judas removed the demon magic from her body to kill Enigma. "I can't do it."

Meiling practically yanked Suika out of the water. "That's not you, Suika! Can you kill Enigma?"

"No…"

"Wrong answer! Can you kill Enigma?"

"No!"

"That's not the right answer! Can you kill Enigma?"

"…Yes?"

"What?"

"Yes."

"I can't hear you, Suika!"

"I can kill Enigma!"

"Good. Now, _will_ you kill him?"

"I'll kill Enigma myself! Who needs help?"

"That's the oni I love. Now, any questions?"

"Yeah. Can I put my clothes on now?"

Meiling's entire face went the brightest shade of red imaginable at the question when she noticed that Suika was standing right in front of her naked. Turning around and doing her best to stop her nose from spilling any blood, she stammered "Uh, y-yeah, put them…on."

Suika downed a mouthful of sake, glad that Meiling could talk her back into her usual high spirits. "Alright," she said once she was dressed again. "Let's go!" _Meiling saw me naked? _Once she realized that herself, she had the same face as her companion and made the same effort to prevent a nosebleed.

* * *

><p><strong>Poor Suika, everybody's counting on her and at first she couldn't count on herself. Meiling giving her that pep talk is inspired by the principal over at my school giving me a pep talk about the GED today. He says I'm gonna be the first student to get the GED since he became principal, and even he said that judging by my test scores, I was ready for the GED from the very get-go. I guess I'm now preparing too when I look at it. Also, keep an eye open for my next wonderful fanfic (and no, I don't mean the sequel to this amazing one) once I run the first part by my beta reader<strong>


	32. Chapter 31: Tragedy Born of Prediction

** The story is getting closer to its end! I can't wait for the epic battle with Enigma! I'm thinking a semi-danmaku-style kind of battle, which will make more sense if I decide to go through with that kind of battle. Now that I'm thinking about it, why does one hit from a danmaku bullet make YOU pop like a balloon, but you can shoot most characters a ton of times before they finally give in? Is Reimu weaker than we thought or something?**

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><p>Meiling and Suika walked back into the city of oni together, with Suika newly reassured in her own abilities. She didn't expect Meiling to find her at the hot springs, mostly because only Yuugi knew that she went there when she was feeling down…which meant Yuugi told Meiling where she went. Suika wasn't sure if she wanted to thank Yuugi or punch her for telling Meiling, but knowing Yuugi, she'd have armor made for Suika already. Sure enough, when the duo of youkai and oni found Yuugi, she was standing next to a suit of armor that looked like it was made for Suika. It was small like herself, and it was a deep azure color. The right arm of the suit was missing to accommodate her mutated arm, and a vicious-looking sword accompanied it. "Wow," Suika said in amazement. "Is that -hic- all for me?"<p>

"Yep," Yuugi said. "Armor and a sword all for you. It's too heavy for humans to carry, but since you're an oni it'll be easy to hold. I thought of everything for ya."

"Thank you, Yuugi!" Suika grabbed the armor, and went into the nearby building to start putting it on.

Meiling watched Suika go in, and was a bit excited. "Is there any armor for me yet?"

"No," Yuugi said. "What kind do you want?"

"Leather armor; metal restricts my movements too much. It needs to be a good fit, and if it's possible, I'd like _some_ metal plates in some places on the armor, but few enough that I can still move normally."

"I'll make it personally. Also, Judas was looking for you."

"Alright, where is he?"

"He went back up to the bridge. He told me to tell you that it was urgent, and that if you weren't back before Suika came out to send her too. She'll catch up with you, okay?"

"If Judas says it's urgent, I can only wonder what it is." Meiling thankfully nodded to Yuugi before once again walking through crowds of oni. All around, the sounds of armor and weapon production echoed across all of Former Hell, but as Meiling came closer and closer to the bridge where Judas waited for her, those sounds began to fade. She'd never been down here before, and to say the least it was a strange world to her. Now she sort of understood why Suika struck her as such a strange person; how could she not seem that way coming from such a world? When Meiling reached Judas, she asked "What did you need?"

"Something important has occurred to me. Sealing spells have two parts to them, and that is where the magic lies."

"Can you please explain?"

"Most magic only has the spell itself, but for sealing spells it's different. For a sealing spell, you need the seal and then a prophecy. When I sealed Enigma, I wasn't much of a soothsayer so I kept things simple. The mere fact that he's free means that the prophecy behind his seals will be fulfilled soon."

"What was the prophecy?"

"For time unknown, Enigma will rest in the deepest pits of Hell. However, when a hero capable of destroying him entirely arises, so too will the demon. Should the hero win, the beast will be destroyed; mind, body, and soul. However, should the hero fail in their battle, all worlds will fall into disarray under the tyranny of Enigma."

"Dammit, Judas. Why did you have to answer the dreaded question with that prophecy?"

"There are rules behind creating a prophecy, and failing to follow them will result in having the sealer become the victim of the seals instead of the intended target. One such rule is that the sealed entity will always have a chance at victory, and another is that you may not elect yourself as the person fated to destroy said being. But that's not where the prophecy ends."

"Keep going, then!"

"In the end, both the hero and Enigma will descend into the everlasting abyss between worlds, doomed to know neither Heaven nor Hell. To save their comrades, their own existence is sacrificed."

"No…Judas, you bastard! How far does the scheme go? Did you write that one down in the hopes that _I_ was the hero?"

"I wrote it before I ever came into Gensokyo, so this isn't part of any plan I assure you. However, the chronological circumstances dictate that the hero must be Suika. Her body was infected with demonic magic at roughly the same time as Enigma's seals breaking. I don't know what I can say about what will happen, only that it must or we'll all become Enigma's slaves. Not only that, the fact that his seals broke and sent him to Gensokyo dictate that the hero has to be in this world. I'd love to say that it was somebody else, but all factors point to it being her."

"And I'm supposed to accept that?"

"I don't like it either. Sadly, all we _can_ do is accept it and not tell Suika what will happen. If she backs down from the fight, the prophecy will be fulfilled in Enigma's favor and all of us will work for him forever."

"I'd rather it be that than Suika dying! You have no idea what I've been through thanks to you!"

"If I wasn't ever here, you wouldn't have gone on your adventure."

"But Flandre! She'd be alive right now, and me and her would be in the Scarlet Devil Mansion together!"

"No, Orci Mundis would have still come here when he did, and instead of getting killed like he did, Gensokyo would be consumed. Even if he was killed, Orci Persona would be able to rampage as he would have pleased. Eventually he'd reach Suika as well as yourself and kill you both since you would lack the knowledge of his weaknesses. Lastly, you would have never realized your true feelings for Suika. Everything happens for a reason, Meiling, and nobody can tell you what that reason is, not even me." Judas looked back to the city that rested in Former Hell, and saw an armored Suika working her way toward Judas and Meiling. "Speaking of, here comes Suika now. Remember, _don't_ mention the prophecy."

"I hope Enigma kills you, Judas." Meiling went across the bridge in a rage. She couldn't believe he had the nerve to say right to her face that Suika was doomed, even after everything they'd done to keep her alive. She couldn't face the necromancer now just because of that, and she didn't want to face Suika. Every time she saw Suika would be one more happy moment that she would now know could never happen again in any peaceful situation. With a war on the brink of happening, and the end of Suika's life not far off from that, how could Meiling find any peace at all? After a bit of walking, she found a side-path that led to a very secluded cave-like area. Meiling turned there and went into the cave, not sure what she should do anymore.

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><p>"Meiling will need some time to gather herself, Suika. For now, are <em>you<em> ready to fight Enigma? Even if Meiling doesn't show up, I'll have your back this entire time, as we're both equally essential to winning this fight."

"I'm ready," the oni bravely said. "There are only a few more oni who need armor and weapons, then -hic- we'll go out and fight."

"My, my. You've become quite the general, haven't you? I suppose I should start preparing an army of my own as well. However, I imagine that ours is quite a bit larger than Enigma's."

"How so? How many people -hic- do you have?"

"How many people have died in the history of Gensokyo? I'd imagine that it's a very high number, and _that_ is what I have at my disposal."

"Not exactly. In Former Hell, we -hic- use corpses and spirits for power and stuff."

"Sounds like a rather macabre power source…I like it. Regardless, is Meiling's armor ready?"

"I brought it with me."

"Now we just need Meiling herself. She's rather upset, and she thinks you'll die in this war. I believe you might make it, but I know that if Enigma doesn't die, all of us will under his tyrannical wings. I wish you the best of luck in the fight, but I need to find Meiling. You gather the prepared oni and if you so desire, send them above ground to get started on the enemy forces." Judas crossed the bridge, and kept an alert eye out for Meiling. One thing, however, would make her easy to track. As a necromancer, Judas naturally dealt with death and the undead. This made life energy, chi, very easy to notice for him. Not only that, Meiling's powers were very honed and acute thanks to the several powerful enemies she'd had to deal with. He could detect her presence before he even reached the subtle junction that led to where Meiling was hiding. As he made the turn, he felt a sharp increase in her chi. Did she know he was here? As he turned the final corner and found Meiling, he said "So this is where you went."

"Go away."

"Suika is waiting for you."

"I said, _go away_."

"Will you just leave Suika?"

"Get the hell away from me, Judas!"

"You're testing me now, Meiling. Come with me or I'll summon the spirits of your own ancestors to drag you along with me."

"You wouldn't."

"Try me."

"I knew it. You haven't changed at all. I'm going to get my armor now, and then we're going up above to take the fight to Enigma. You're no longer needed or wanted in this war, you can go home now."

"If you believe you don't need me, I won't try to stop you. Come see me when you win, or I'll go see you when you don't."

"Stop talking, Judas. You've done more than enough to piss me off already and I don't want to have to tell Suika I killed you." Meiling shoved the necromancer out of her way as she went back toward the bridge where Suika was waiting for her. She was certain that she didn't need his help, and that Suika didn't either. By the time she was at the bridge again, all of the oni were gathered. "Suika," she said. "Send the rest up ahead."

"Alright," Suika drunkenly yelled. "You ladies -hic- wanna live forever? Get up there and -hic- show this Enigma guy who's boss!" Suika watched all of the oni run past her, leaving no spare room on the bridge as they rushed themselves across. For a few moments, it looked like the bridge would collapse, but the entire oni race made it across perfectly well. "And Meiling, do you want -hic- your armor?"

"Yeah." Meiling put on the leather armor, surprised at how very plain it was. Just brown leather, nothing more. She wasn't going to complain though; this would be the last armor she ever wore in her lifetime. "Let's go." Meiling led the way across the bridge and up the wind tunnel that led to the above world of Gensokyo. Along the way, she kept an extra close eye out for Judas to make sure he wasn't going to help them any longer.

"Where's Judas?"

"He won't be making it. We don't need him anyway; he'd just get all of us killed." The couple took their first steps into an enslaved Gensokyo, and already the war wasn't looking good for them. Enigma seemed to have a lot more people than originally thought, outnumbering the army that Meiling and Suika put together at least twenty to one. But oni were very strong, so those numbers didn't matter at all. "Alright," Meiling shouted to the countless oni fighting. "Don't kill anybody unless you absolutely must. Your objective is to locate and remove the bats from their bodies, nothing more! Don't let me down!" Meiling heard footsteps to her side, and turned just in time to dodge a powerful slice from not one but two swords. _Looks like even Youmu is an enemy now. This won't take long, though._ Meiling landed on one of the swords, and quickly looked for the bat. Once she saw it on Youmu's right arm, Meiling reached down and pulled it off. "Youmu," she said. "Think you can help us out?"

The half-phantom gardener looked baffled. What had happened? She remembered losing consciousness in the netherworld, but then there was a massive blank. "…What do I have to do?"

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><p><strong>First chapter and we're already getting people back. Of course, none of them are the hero mentioned in Judas's prophecy. Makes you worry about Suika, don't it? She doesn't even know what's going on that's chewing away at Meiling, and Meiling can't bring herself to tell Suika about the prophecy that Judas had to make to seal away Enigma. It will be a sad day in Gensokyo when Suika dies, indeed<strong>


	33. Chapter 32: Bringer of Pain

** We're drawing very close to the end of the story now. If you're reading this fanfic, please do link it to other people who enjoy Touhou, as I most certainly will! I still feel sorry for Meiling, having to have heard that Suika will be erased like that…but Suika doesn't seem to mind? Yep, these two are definitely an odd couple, but Azure and I both love crack-pairings so let it be so! I was also thinking about doing a Momiji x Koakuma one on the basis of "what if they got gapped to our world?" and possibly have them meet Meiling and Suika in the sequel to this fanfic as well. Maybe they could be neighbors! I wonder what kind of job Koakuma would do…oh my goddesses, watch out for that cop, Koakuma! Wait, that's MOMIJI!**

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><p>It was a long and difficult day of fighting, and the army of oni and those saved from Enigma were only able to reclaim as much as Youkai Mountain. This was still a great location to have at their disposal, especially when the high-tech facilities of the kappa and tengu were taken into consideration. Meiling had already instructed the kappa to see what they could do as far as better weapons and other things that would be useful in the war. As for the tengu, Meiling had them doing what they did best: guarding the mountain. As Meiling looked at the rest of Gensokyo from the very tip of the mountain alongside Suika, she said "It even looks different from up here."<p>

"Ya…I wonder -hic- if Heaven is okay?"

"Should we go find out?"

"Nah. We have a job -hic- to do so let's do that first."

"Well said. How's your arm feeling?"

"As normal as it can feel -hic- as it is. If we didn't need the magic inside to kill Enigma, I'd ask Sanae -hic- to fix it."

Before Meiling could speak again, a man's voice interrupted the conversation the two were having. "In what direction does the sun rise?"

Meiling and Suika both turned to the source of the voice. He looked normal enough until the two got up to his face. Suika would have said his face looked odd, but Meiling would say that it couldn't possibly look odd. If something is not there, it cannot appear to be odd. Aside from a mouth that bore sharp shark-like teeth, this man had no face at all. "I beg your pardon?"

"In what direction does the sun rise?"

"In the east."

"Incorrect. The sun does not rise at all, we simply rotate to face it. Many will say that the sun rises, when those who know the truth will say that we're simply turning around to look at it for another day."

"What?"

"Was my explanation not simple enough?"

"No, it wasn't. Please speak in terms we can understand."

"But I've already made it as simple as possible. Does our world turn to face the sun?"

"Yes, you just said that."

"Do you turn to face your destiny? Or will you run away when the time comes?"

"Well, I…"

"Not you. The oni. Do you turn to face your sun-bright destiny? Or will you simply look at the dead moon forever?"

Suika looked at this man right where his eyes should have been, and thought for a moment. "What is -hic- my destiny?"

"I'm not a prophet, young lady. I'm merely a guide."

"What's your name?"

"I do not have one. As I said, my purpose is to guide those who are lost. Now, will you face your destiny when the time comes? Despite what your friend believes, death is not what awaits you at the end of the road, young Suika." Without waiting for a response, the man began turning into vapor. The faceless, nameless stranger literally evaporated right before the eyes of Meiling and Suika. "Remember," his voice echoed. "The world turns to meet the sun; the sun does not rise at all."

Suika looked at Meiling, hoping for an answer. "What does he -hic- mean?"

"I wish I knew." _Does he know that I know she's the hero from Judas's prophecy? I was sworn not to tell her, and even if I wasn't I can't bring myself to tell her that she's going to die. I wish I knew what to do._ Meiling looked down from the top of the mountain, down at the rest of Gensokyo. "So, how about this view?"

"It's amazing! I can see -hic- the Hakurei Shrine from here."

"Nice eye there. From here, I can see the Scarlet Devil Mansion." Meiling couldn't wait to get that back for Gensokyo, and give Remilia her home back. They didn't find her in the day's battles, but it made perfect sense that they wouldn't. She was still a vampire, so they'd have to find her at night. "Suika, can I ask you something important?"

"Ya. What's -hic- bugging you?"

"I've been thinking…what if we can't kill Enigma? What would happen to us? We'd be his slaves, but would we still get to see each other?"

"Don't think about -hic- it. If you think there's a chance of losing, then there always will be."

"If you say so…" How was she supposed to tell Suika her destiny was death? A death that once again would leave Meiling all alone, at that. After that, what would she do? The cheerful oni next to her was the one that got her up off her feet when she felt down in this adventure, and Meiling did the same for Suika. They were an inseparable pair now, and nothing could change that. That was, nothing except this death that was going to have to happen some time in the near future. The way Meiling saw it, Enigma would probably be at the Scarlet Devil Mansion, so he'd be in their reach by the end of tomorrow. Her time was limited with Suika, and that frightened her. "Suika?"

"Ya?"

"If…if we don't both make it through this…you know I love you, right?"

"Ya. And I'll -hic- always love you, Meiling. But don't worry so much, we're gonna be just fine, -hic- okay?"

It always reddened Meiling's face when Suika said she loved her. "If you're so sure…"

"What's wrong? You're not usually -hic- like this."

"Oh, it's…not important. Not important in the least, just something that I've been thinking about."

"If it's making you worry, then -hic- it's important _to me_ at least. Tell me."

"Judas says that to kill Enigma…you have to die."

"What?"

"That's what he said." Meiling slowly began to turn away from Suika as she continued. "He told me that to seal something, you need to make a prophecy. The one he made was that Enigma would be freed when somebody who could completely destroy him rose up to being a hero, and that in the end the hero and Enigma would be erased from existence completely. Suika, I can't beg you enough times to not do this. From the bottom of my heart and soul, _please_ don't do anything stupid when the time comes." Then Meiling felt two arms around her, one small and soft, the other large and hard as rock.

"I'm not going -hic- anywhere. Okay?"

"How can you be so sure? Suika, I _really_ don't want you to do this."

Suika quickly let go of Meiling. "Meiling, am I gonna -hic- die?"

"Yeah…"

"Wrong answer! Am -hic- I gonna die?"

"Most likely."

"Still not it! Am I -hic- gonna die?"

"Possibly."

"Almost there, -hic- Meiling! Am I gonna die?"

"I guess not."

"You _guess_?"

"Suika, I appreciate what you're trying to do for me. But please, don't. I know that when you die I'm going to be miserable, and when a person feels that way it feels much worse if they're happy before it happens. I know I'm going to be miserable when you die so I'm trying not to get too happy before it happens. Suika, how _can_ I be happy with that, just knowing that you'll die and that I can't do anything about it? I can't!"

"But if -hic- you're not happy now, that's less happy memories to cheer you up later. You need to be happy now or -hic- you won't ever be happy that you let yourself feel down when this war ends."

"It's not the end of the war I'm worried about…it's the end of your life."

"Meiling, -hic- I thought I already said that I'm not dying. Have some faith in me. Judas is -hic- a bastard for telling you that kind of lie, so just ignore him. We're doing great -hic- so far and we're not slowing down any, right?"

"No, we're not slowing down at all."

"Then we'll be done with this before long, just -hic- you watch." Suika cheerfully started working her way back down the mountain, wondering if Judas would ever show up to help Meiling and herself. He'd helped them out this far, so what was the point in leaving them now? Then a panicked tengu started flying up toward Suika. "What's -hic- the matter?"

"We're under attack! We don't know where the enemy came from, but there's way too many of them. We had to evacuate everybody, and I was tasked with getting you and Meiling out of here. Come on, hurry!" Just as the tengu finished explaining, a steel blade ran straight through her chest, and the tengu's eyes welled up with blood. "Suika…get Meiling…run."

Suika tilted her head to look at the assailant. This was something she'd not seen before. It appeared to be a heavily-armored knight with sword and shield, but when she took a closer look she realized that there was nothing beneath the armor. "You -hic- killed her!" Suika reached to her back for her sword, but it wasn't there! _Ah, I left it back at the Moriya Shrine! I don't think even I can punch through that armor, so what do I do?_ Was Meiling right? Was Suika's destiny going to be death? "Who are you?"

The knight stood silent, swinging its sword back violently to throw the dead tengu off of its blade. For all of its power, it walked very slowly toward Suika, who didn't seem to know how to react that it could simply kill without any remorse at all.

Suika was cornered. She would have tried to fight, but she didn't know if her punches would hurt it. As the knight raised its sword to slice Suika clean in half, the oni threw her arms over her head, still watching the sword. As the arm came down, she could see her life flash before her eyes. Then _SWOOSH! _Suika's eyes were still shut tightly, until she realized that she was alive. "What?" When she looked in the knight's direction, she saw a figure in a tattered black cloak holding the sword off with a silver-bladed scythe.

"I figured you girls would need me," Judas said. "I gotta say though, I didn't think it'd be _this _soon." Judas placed a finger on the chest of the knight, and for a second Suika saw a pitch-black sphere go from the necromancer's fingers into the knight's armor. "You may want to cover your ears." As he said this, the knight's armor began to crack. Then it exploded into countless metal shards. Judas calmly turned back to Suika, and said "Meet me at the Moriya Shrine, and bring Meiling. As for your army, I've sent ghosts to find and regroup everybody here again."

Suika watched Judas climb further down the mountain, speechless at what had just happened here. If she had to rate this on a scale of one to ten on how strange it was, the events would easily score as a high eight or a nine. "Meiling," she shouted.

The Chinese youkai quickly jumped down some rocks to where Suika was, and asked "What's wrong?"

"Are you _sure_ Judas -hic- wrote a prophecy to kill me?"

"Yes, he said it to me himself."

"He just saved -hic- my life. We have to go see him."

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><p>The rising sun's light was barely touching the grounds of the Moriya Shrine. Judas stood there, scythe in hand, looking over at the rest of Gensokyo. "I'm glad to see you understand," he said to Meiling. "It seems that in your rage you forgot that you need me here to release the dark magic in Suika's arm. I can't fully resurrect her after this fight, but if you'd like…I can bring her spirit back for you."<p>

"I'd appreciate that," Meiling said. "You don't know how much it'd mean to me if you did that. Is there a catch?"

"Of course." Judas looked down at the Scarlet Devil Mansion, where Enigma certainly was. "Is she ready?"

"She's been waiting on us. Are you ready?"

"Born that way."

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><p><strong>I've decided, a fanfic of Koakuma x Momiji MUST be done! They're both too cute to not be paired with each other. Also, am I the only one who thinks Okuu's cape makes her look bulky in Hisotensoku? She almost looks like a boy…and Patchouli's portrait IS a man<strong>


	34. Finale: Redemption

** Today is both a happy day and a sad day in Gensokyo. It is happy in the sense that those who fall into oppression will be saved, but it is a sad day because this is the final chapter of Poisonous Chinese Tea. Never before have I written a story even half this long, and I was originally gonna make it a bit longer, add a couple more chapters, but that would just end up being filler, and I HATE filler! The sequel will be coming soon, don't forget to rate this story and leave wonderful reviews for the end of the story! Here goes nothing, let the battle for Gensokyo commence!**

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><p>The countless that were fighting alongside Meiling and Suika had been scattered by Judas; they needed to cover as much ground as possible so that Enigma wouldn't be able to defend all of Gensokyo and the Scarlet Devil Mansion at the same time. The trio looked down at the battle, and even from Youkai Mountain they could hear the intense battle that spanned across an entire world. "Alright," Judas said. "It's time. I hope you two are ready."<p>

"Ya!" Suika started down the mountain first, sword in hand. She wanted to do this quickly.

Meiling watched the oni run off. The deal she made with Judas would be costly, but she was more than happy to make it if it meant having Suika back after all of this. "After you, Judas."

"Thank you." Judas raised a hand into the air, as the ground directly beneath his feet crumbled. Right beneath him, a steed from Hell itself was arising to carry him to the Scarlet Devil Mansion. "I've always wanted to use this spell," he said. The feet of the horse burned with an intense flame, burning away at the ground it stood on. "Do your best to keep up, Meiling." Judas's horse began running down the mountain far faster than any human had the capacity to run, leaving footprints of fire behind it. Judas's right hand held the reins of the horse while the scythe rested in his left hand. Everything on him, including his weapon and horse, was forged out of the souls of demons so naturally they were powerful objects.

Meiling watched the horse run off, and started running as fast as she could, more to catch up with Suika than Judas. She didn't care if he got there before them, and she really wanted to kidnap Suika and take her away from this. But she knew that doing that would result in the war being a horrible loss and all of Gensokyo falling into slavery that not even the deadly duo could end. Eventually, she caught up to the oni and her loudly clanking armor. "Hey," she said. "Good luck in this fight."

"Thanks. You, -hic- too. Remember, no matter what happens, I'm always going to love you Meiling."

"And you're always the person I love most as well, Suika. No matter what happens." The two kept running ahead, Judas far ahead of them now. It was possible that he was already at the Scarlet Devil Mansion. If so, then the battle would begin very soon indeed. "I have faith in you, and I'm not afraid of you dying anymore."

"I'm not afraid -hic- either." The oni made a massive jump to cover the remaining distance, and took one more look at all of Gensokyo on her way down. Her azure armor seemed to shine in the sunlight, and her mutated arm seemed to glimmer in the bright lights that to her marked the beginning of a new age. Would it be an age of freedom, though? Or an age of slavery? That would be for her to decide, Suika concluded as she landed just behind the Scarlet Devil Mansion to find Judas awaiting them, now without a demonic steed. "Are you ready?"

"As soon as you ladies are," Judas said. Shortly after, he saw Meiling finishing her run down the mountain, though her stare seemed to go right through Judas and Suika, into the walls around and then of the Scarlet Devil Mansion. "Oh, crap. Suika, move!" The two jumped out of the way just in time to avoid Meiling charging through the solid brick wall, and then punching a sizable hole in the wall of the mansion. "_Real_ subtle, China."

Meiling turned to Judas, and smiled. "Aw, did you call me China? That reminds me of when I used to beat the shit out of you. I could still do that, you know. Let's get this fight done already, I need to figure out what to do after this."

"Very well." The necromancer, oni, and youkai all stepped into the mansion together. Looking around, the place seemed to be empty. Was it? All three kept their eyes and ears extra sharp as they continued navigating the halls with Meiling's help. "Remember, Enigma can take on the form and abilities of any person he sees, so it's very possible for him to capture one of us and transform himself. I doubt he'll do it, though; prophesized heroes always get the privilege of seeing his true form."

"Indeed," a deeper-than-deep voice said from behind them. "Indeed as they would say, speak of the devil. It is very considerate of you to bring the hero to me, as I lack the patience needed to search all of this realm for the person that I seek."

"Well, you've -hic- found her," Suika boldly said.

"You? You aren't fit to be the hero."

"Well, it's me whether -hic- you like it or not." Snapping the chain attached to her armor, Suika handed her prized possession to Meiling and said "Hold my gourd." The oni drunkenly walked up to Enigma, saying "So -hic- you're the final boss?"

"I am the ruler of this world. Step down and perhaps I may allow you to leave with your life intact."

"Not happening, tough guy!" Suika reared her arm back, and threw her arm back forward to deliver a vicious sword strike. But with disbelief, she watched in shock as Enigma's wing of an arm not only blocked her sword, but shattered it completely. Suika ran right up to Enigma's face, delivering a punch with her armored arm, only to have the armor shatter as well.

"Those pathetic attacks are the best you can do? You are certainly not the hero foretold in Judas's prophecy, then."

"I'm not done yet!" Suika knew what she had to use; her mutated demon arm. Suika once again reared an arm back, and then threw herself forward to deliver a full-force high-impact punch from Hell.

Enigma's wings shifted into arms, and one of his hands grabbed the arm coming toward him, causing smoke to come out of his hand. "That is demonic magic resting in your arm. While it is most certainly a powerful weapon, that alone cannot defeat me." Enigma began squeezing, intending to crush the demon arm or even tear it in half. Doing that would cause the demon magic to spill out and render her as powerless as she would have normally been against Enigma. "There is nothing you can do."

"Wanna -hic- bet?"

"I'll wager my soul on it." Enigma tightened his grip a great deal more, and the black scales along Suika's arm shattered. "You are not the hero I have awaited, begone you neophyte of a hero." The arm that shattered Suika's scales released its grip, only to deliver a powerful punch to Suika's chest, sending her right past Meiling and Judas into the wall behind them. "Now," the demon demanded. "Where is the hero who will defeat me?"

Judas looked at Meiling. "The person who writes the prophecy can't elect themselves hero, it has to be you."

Meiling's entire face flew into shock. "Wh-Whaaat?"

"Go get 'em, tiger." Judas shoved Meiling toward Enigma, hoping he was right. If not these two, then who?

Meiling approached the demon, having just now realized that he hit Suika hard enough that he could have seriously harmed her. "You'll pay for hurting Suika," Meiling said, suddenly alert and confident in her abilities. If she was the hero, then it was her destiny to win this fight! Meiling poured a massive amount of chi energy into one of her arms, and ran up to Enigma with it, planning to punch him hard.

Enigma's arms shifted themselves back into wings, and the demon shielded himself with these wings. When Meiling's fist impacted, a bright flash of white light burst from the point of impact, and the sound of bones cracking could be heard distinctly. But when the light faded, it was Meiling rather than Enigma who was doubling back in the pain of a broken limb. "It is not you either," the demon said. "Then it is you, Judasss." Enigma approached Judas, ignoring the injured Meiling and the oni in the back who was getting back up to her feet.

Judas looked at Enigma. "Is it? I wrote the prophecy, so it can't be me."

"You cannot _elect_ it to be you, but it is still you."

"Very well. Then we should both fight at our greatest capacity." One of Judas's hands pointed back to Suika, and a black smoke began flying out of her mutated arm as the arm slowly returned to normal and the other minor mutations went with it. All of that demonic magic went straight into Judas's body, but rather than harm him, it would aid him as a user of the dark arts. "Meiling, Suika, leave this place now if you wish to stay alive." Judas would have to use the most forbidden of arts, he would have to summon spirits that were not meant to be summoned under any circumstances whatsoever. Surely he had the power to do this.

"Good luck, Judas," Meiling said, running over to Suika to help her up on her feet. "Come on, let's go."

"It's -hic- not me?"

"No. Come on, Suika." Meiling and Suika ran past Judas and Enigma again, going out of the hole in the wall that Meiling had made. She wanted to get herself and Suika as far away from Judas and Enigma as she possibly could.

"Now," Judas said, his armor and appearance in all having greatly changed from the sheer amount of power he had stored. "Let the battle commence." He let Enigma have the first strike, a powerful uppercut punch that tore Judas's entire right arm off. Judas's attack response was simple. He knew how to end all of this right then and there, and was glad that Meiling and Suika were running. Stabbing Enigma in the heart with the scythe, he began to charge even more energy as the demon tried to get the object out of himself. "Meiling, Suika, Remilia, Patchouli, Koakuma…everybody. Don't screw this up, or I'll never forgive you. I'd stay if I could, but this is my destiny, and my redemption for all that I've done to this world. Goodbye." Judas's entire face burst into a wicked grin, and for the last few seconds of his life, the deepest evils inside himself showed again to even further amplify his demonic power. "This is the end, Enigma! I'll see you in Hell!"

* * *

><p>Meiling and Suika looked down at the Scarlet Devil Mansion. "Nothing's happening." Meiling had spoken too soon. Not long after she said that, the mansion exploded in a cloud of black magic. "Oh my god…he killed himself."<p>

"He -hic- sacrificed himself to let us live…I guess bad guys go good after all."

"They certainly do, Suika." Meiling couldn't have imagined that this was the same man who killed Flandre, or the man that nearly killed Youmu. The Judas from then and the Judas from now were certainly different people.

"So…what -hic- do we do now?"

"We re-build Gensokyo. It'll be fun!"

* * *

><p>"Let's do it!"Three months had passed since Judas's sacrifice, and Meiling and Suika were having fun in the human village with a fire-controlling friend they'd made during the most recent incident. The two stopped when they got to the center of the village though. Standing there was a golden statue of a true hero of a human; a man who proved that bad people can still become good. Meiling built the statue entirely on her own, and was proud of the Judas statue that she created. Every time she came here, she read the plaque on it aloud. "In memory of Judas Nekross, a human necromancer who proved that no matter how far down the path of evil a person walks, there is always a chance to find the light again. Judas came into Gensokyo as a murderer, and was hated as such. A month later, he returned to us as a martyr who sacrificed his life for those of everybody in Gensokyo."<p>

"It was -hic- really thoughtful of you, Meiling. I'm sure he'd love it." Meiling and Mokou began walking ahead, until Suika saw something new. "Wait! There's more!"

"What?" Meiling went back to the statue, and there _was_ more. Beneath the plaque, three words were etched into the gold. "Is that even possible?"

Beneath the plaque, the words "He's become stronger" were etched into the base of the statue.

Meiling simply smiled at the words, and said "You sure have, Judas. Come on, Suika, let's go see what kind of adventure we can find around the corner."

"Oh! Can we -hic- bring Momiji too?"

"Sure, why not?" Judas's fate had come to its conclusion, but now it was time for Meiling and Suika to start writing their fate. A fate that they would write for each other; one full of adventure and danger, and also hardship and pain. It would be that very pain to bring them even closer if that were possible. "We'll see you some other time, Mokou."

"It's okay," Mokou said. "You two take your time."

* * *

><p><strong>And with this the story ends. But remember, there will be a sequel with no definite plot. Having no definite plot means one thing to me: it has the capacity to go on FOREVER! Not only that, it'll take place on the very real world of Earth in the very imaginary town that I've yet to name (but it's in Texas because that's where I used to live) but it will certainly be an interesting story. I want to name the town something cool, something in Spanish...any ideas people<strong>


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